Mysuru: The state government gave away bicycles to high school students to help them reach school. But, in most cases the beneficiaries are the not children!
However, here in Mandya a teacher has changed lives of his students by putting these government gifted cycles to best use.Today, these students don’t just peddle the cycles to reach their school, but they have gone places with these cycles!
Meet B Srinivas, the Physical Education Teacher of Government High School in Billenahalli in K R Pete taluk in Mandya district. Using these cycles, this teacher has trained his students for cycle polo and over the last three years he has reaped rich dividends as several of his students have made their presence felt at the national tournaments.
Srinivas is a gifted cricket and hand ball player who had represented University of Mysore at different levels, but he wanted to train students, specifically from economically poor families in cycle polo as this sport demands very little investment.
In December 2012, Srinivas started teaching his students cycle polo free of cost using the government cycles. The enthusiastic students are seen following Srinivas’s guidelines before and after school hours in Billenahalli ground, which is about 78 kms away from Mysuru city. Srinivas, a resident of Mysuru travels all the way to Billenhalli for work. He is also member in the selection committee of School Federation of India.
Speaking to Newskarnataka, Srinivas said “When I joined education department as a physical education teacher in 2004, to start with I imparted cricketing skills to students but it didn’t work out as the students were not in a position to invest for various cricketing gears. Hence after seeing bicycles which was provided by government free of cost to students, I decided to make use of this cycle to promote cycle polo. Through this game the students not only learn the game but also remain fit. Initially the students found it difficult to learn the game but later they managed to learn the skills. We are providing free stick and balls to students. Most of the students learnt the basic of cycle polo in just span of 25 to 30 days. In span of three years, more than 43 of our students both boys and girls represented state in various national events and won more than eight medals.”
In the state team, majority of the players are students of Srinivas and this humble teacher has great dreams for his students.
“In coming years, the game will be introduced in Olympics and I want players from Karnataka to be part of Indian team. During weekends, I also visit Chamarajanagar, Mysuru and Hassan to impart cycle polo skills. Due to outstanding performance in cycle polo, couple of my students even got scholarship. The representation will help the students to get seats and job through sports quota,” he says.
Nithin, tenth standard student from the school represented Karnataka several times and he is grateful to his teacher for grooming him for the sport.
“I want to represent India in this sport and want to be part of India Airforce cycle polo team,” says Nithin.
Lakshmi, ninth standard student from the same school who too represented Karnataka in sub junior category and won silver medal said “I want to make a niche for myself in this sport and also train juniors in this sport. My parents are also encouraging me to scale greater heights”.
With a selfless teacher like Srinivas round, there is no doubt that these students from humble background will take off some day or the other.
