The synthetic track revealed its age unabashedly. Parents and Physical Education Teachers were the only spectators in the galleries. Mainstream media was conspicuous by its absence. Yet, words can never be adequate to describe the boundless energy enveloping the arena, the kids not being deterred by such factors.
You had to be there in the GMC Balayogi Stadium in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, on December 21 to feel the infectious energy and the enthusiasm as hundreds of children competed in the Grand City Final of the UBS Kids Athletics Cup. The competitors were innocent to wearing spikes, but their intensity and passion was there for all to see in the well-conducted meet.
The Kids Athletics Cup for children between 7 and 15 years of age is a triathlon comprising a 60m sprint, a long jump and a ball throw. The competition began with the event being held in schools and moved through Regional Finals in Hyderabad and Secunderabad to the Grand City Final. Similar Grand Finals will be held in Pune (January 9, 2026) and Mumbai (January 17).
DsPowerParts Sports CEO Daniel Schenker says UBS Kids Athletics is one way to ensure that the children enjoy being on the playground. “We are facing a challenge post Covid and with the evolution of technology, cell phones and computers. Don’t get me wrong, these are all good. But we need to get back to the habit of enjoying things by being on the ground,” he says.
He points out that the Kids Cup competition in Switzerland has drawn 15 lakh children in more than 1000 events since inception in 2011. The 2022 World Athletics Championship Long Jump bronze medallist Simon Ehammer is one of those who made it from the Kids Cup national final at Letzigrund Stadium to the podium in a World Championships.
Of course, Athletics Federation of India’s own National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet (NIDJAM) has been the starting point for quite a few heroes, not the least being Neeraj Chopra who has won a gold and a silver in the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships. Lakhs of athletes compete in their respective districts before around 6000 head for NIDJAM.
DsPowerParts Sports Project Manager Zahir Khan says Kids Athletics Cup has touched the lives of 250,000 school kids in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad this season. “The aim is to promote a physically active lifestyle among children through the basic and simple movements of running, jumping and throwing. It also offers raw talent a platform to perform,” he says.
A mother of one of the athletes had an interesting response when asked for the reason to encourage her daughter to play sport. “She wanted to do something in sport, and I am glad her school introduced her to Kids Athletics,” she said. “I am sure she will continue to play sport and get better as an all-rounder.”
Come to think of it, since the Union Government’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has paused, if not entirely scrapped the Khelo India Rising Talent Identification (KIRTI) programme, it can consider funding such a model of finding talent in the hinterland to address the country’s sporting aspirations.
It is a model that State Governments and Union Territory Administrations can embrace, if not improvise upon. The Education and Sports departments can work together to promote fitness and health among students across each State and Union Territory. After all, India has more children than ever, each living with aspirations and hope. They must get to express themselves.
Indeed, if done well and monitored with utmost sincerity, this could well be an important talent hunt pathway, not just for track and field sport. Even if such expectations are in the realms of pipedreams, the infectious energy that one felt at the Balayogi Stadium on December 21 was real, if not entirely magical.
