The Tribal Welfare Residential Sports School at Kinnerasani in Palvancha mandal has earned the unique distinction of not only producing young sportsmen of high calibre, but also enabling several budding tribal sportsmen secure government jobs.
The institution has carved out a niche for itself in imparting quality coaching in archery, volleyball, kabaddi and kho-kho to tribal students of the district.
The school, situated on the premises of the Ashram High School, in the vicinity of the Kinnerasani dam, has achieved laurels owing to the remarkable accomplishments of its students at the State and national-level sports tournaments.
K. Shiva Shankar, a former student of the sports school, had in 2010 brought wide accolades to the institution by representing the national archery team in an international tournament held in the United States. He later joined the Indian Army.
A. Durgaiah and U. Prasad, alumni of the school, won cash awards from the State government for their outstanding performances in archery tournaments a couple of years ago. While Durgaiah was selected as Physical Education Teacher (PET) in a model school, Prasad is pursuing his higher studies with an aim to become a PET.
“The two per cent quota earmarked for archery players in jobs has helped several tribal students of our school secure government jobs, particularly PET posts,” said Putta Shankaraiah, archery coach and physical director of the school.
K. Nagesh and K. Naveen, SSC students of the school, have been selected for the National School Games (Archery) under-17 tournament to be held in Assam in December.
“My aim is to represent the country in the tournament and secure a PET job to promote archery in the agency areas,” says Nagesh, who has thrice participated in national-level archery tournaments.
Archery equipment – bows and arrows made of bamboo – sanctioned by the government several years ago had become redundant, deplored a student unwilling to be identified.
“We are presently practicing with equipment provided by the District Archery Association,” he said, insisting on the government’s intervention to provide them modern archery equipment to enable them to excel in the game.
