The NALS Coonoor Camp – for Children with Special Needs (18th Jun – 19th Jun 2022 @ NALS Outdoors, Manjacombai, Coonoor, Nilgiris, TN. India)
Children with special needs, particularly with intellectual disabilities, consistently face difficulties and challenges in their day-to-day life and need physical as well as mental support. The level of impact varies from child to child depending on their prevailing condition.
These challenges often come in different forms, mainly in social engagement and developing independent life skills like self-help, peer interaction/engagement and interactive social communication with the rest of society. The parents of these children often face many difficulties, especially the mental stress and worry they carry all their life, regarding the future of their child.
The team at Yadhavi Sports Academy has taken it upon themselves to help families cultivate the skills required to help their children to navigate and thrive in all social scenarios and environments. Through this they hope to reinvent the lives of these children so that they can lead a self-sustained life full of dignity and self-respect.
Here goes the story…On 17th June, about 20 families and 10 coaching staff from Yadhavi Sports Academy, Chennai (a total of 72 members) travelled to Manjacombai, Coonoor (Nilgiris) in two 36-seater buses to NALS OUTDOORS (The Camp). Here the 8-member expert team from NALS supported and guided a two-day camping event.
DAY-1 @ NALS
The goal of the excursion was to allow the children to experience and nurture their life and motor skills through physical activities such as forest trekking, rope walking at high altitudes and mountaineering.
After breakfast, the children along with their parents and coaches were guided by NALS experts to the Rope walk facility. This challenged the children to overcome their fear of heights as the rope was suspended nearly three stories above the ground. The rope walk itself was a controlled and safe environment that followed necessary safety precautions and was led by coaches and guided by NALS expert team. After the forward and sideways rope walk, they experienced a sudden ‘rope suspended fall’ from that height and then reached the ground slowly and safely.
Despite the rainy weather which made it difficult to walk on the rope, the children managed to complete the walk all the while patiently waiting for their turn. Most parents were stunned to see their child completing every task, almost all of which would have been difficult even for the most active child. For the parents, it was a lifetime achievement of their child.
The Rope walk – Forward, Sideways and Drop down
The camp was a rejuvenating experience for all the children as they learnt many day-to-day life skills. These included self-awareness goals like cleaning their own plates after eating, expanding their social skills by participating in a group setting, getting the opportunity to come out of their shells by interacting with their peers, developing friendships, participating in recreational activities like dancing with other children/adult and so on.
After dinner, everyone spent the night in a simple dormitory with wooden cots and sleeping bags as opposed to their usual comforting cushions, ACs and other luxuries of modern homes. The dormitory allowed children to interact with one another while going to sleep further developing their relationships. The camaraderie in the dormitory created many long-lasting relationships that will help develop and strengthen the special needs community. These relationships help solidify the sense of “we are not alone”.
DAY-2 @ NALS
The next day, children along with their parents and coaches were guided along a trek of about 4 kms, early in the morning. During the trek the children were able to embrace the natural beauty of the jungle, the sounds of the birds and insects, the scent of the flora, and even saw deer and bison.
The team returned to the base camp after the trek to refresh themselves. Once a healthy morning break-fast and tea had been served, the team again led the children to a 30-feet rappelling rock where every child did a guided rappel down to the rock base.
These activities were extremely helpful towards building the “neuromuscular conditioning” of the children as they had to grip the rope tightly while simultaneously coordinating their feet were positioned properly and were balancing their body weight.
All the children had completed these activities independently away from the guidance and supervision of their parents which in turn allowed them to build self-confidence and trust in themselves. Through these exercises both the children and parents were able to see how capable and independent these children could be in future, which is a huge accomplishment for these families and significantly uplifted their spirits.
After the physical activities, the families and coaches retired to the dormitory to spend the evening and pack-up for the return journey. Here the children and parents had small snacks with a Tea/health drink and spent their available time socializing with other families, engaging in some casual conversations, playing simple games with children etc.
These interactions helped relieve the stress of parents as they were able to communicate with those in the same situation as them and gain knowledge by sharing their mutual experiences. They were able to feel that it was a safe place where no one would judge their children for whatever they do or however they behave. This feeling is one that only a parent with a special needs child could understand. Everyone involved benefited in some form as parents felt less alone and began to feel a sense of community and even family with the members of the trip.
“My son used to be part of Sathish’s team, indulging in fitness and swimming activities, and now this camp has given him the confidence to achieve goals independently. Our kids were the stars of the show and we parents returned home with more confidence in our child’s ability than we had previously. We parents’ and children feel refreshed and invigorated!”, says a Mom enthusiastically.
The Evolution of Yadhavi Sports Academy & How it all started
Yadhavi Sports Academy began as a swimming institution for special needs children and after seeing the positive impact they had, they have begun to expand their scope under the guidance of senior coaches Satish and Gokul to provide better attention to each individual child. Apart from swimming, the academy provides basketball coaching, open water swimming in lakes and seas and all sorts of other physical fitness training.
Ten years ago…Sathish, the founder of Yadhavi Sports Academy, started his career as a swimming coach for special needs children with his small team. And with him and his team’s continuous efforts he has now close to 130 students who are getting regular trainings under his academy. With the support of his effective and sincere team of coaches, today many children with special needs have participated in district level swimming competitions and open water competitions. Through the coaching staff’s efforts many children have been able to demonstrate their hidden potential.
Sathish, under his dedication and passion for helping special needs children, along with the support of few like-minded people had managed to cultivate this Academy successfully. Apart from swimming, coaches who are part of the Yadhavi team, also extend their support to special needs children individually with fitness-based skills and training including group activity and 1 on 1training. Through the group lessons and field trips provided by their team, they hope to positively impact the lives of every special needs child and help families believe in their children and their potential. Yadhavi team offers all the support needed to ensure kids have a positive experience through sports.