Pune: Aiming to put traditional Indian ports on the international arena. Capt. Shivrampant Damle-established Maharashtriya Mandal has planned to dedicate its centenary year to give recognition to homegrown sports from not only India but from the south east Asian nations.
Established by Capt Damle i in 1924 Maharashtriya Mandal always had a focus on empowering youth to embrace physical fitness and train them towards enlisting in the defense forces. This year, the Maharashtriya Mandal will begin its centenary year celebration on the auspicious occasion of Dussehra on October 24 2023.
In the coming year, a number of events have been planned such as providing a platform to the invited teams from south east Asian countries to demonstrate their traditional sports. “Depending upon the response, further on one of the sports could be taken up in the schools run by Maharashtriya Mandal,” said Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (Retd.) ,President of Maharashtriya Mandal. Speaking at a press conference to announce the centenary events, Rohan Damle – General Secretary of Maharashtriya Mandal said the aim is to keep the young generation physically and mentally strong to face the challenges ahead.
What started as an institution focused on physical fitness and wellness has over the last 100 years expanded its vision to include the setting up of schools and colleges. Speaking at the Press Conference, Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (Retd.) said, “India has a rich tradition of games like Malkhamb, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho and Yoga. Today there aren’t many options available for children to learn and play these games and for this, we at Maharashtriya Mandal are coming up with a Centre of Excellence. The Centre will focus on research for all these games along with providing the best in class coaching and state-of-the-art indoor facilities.”
Our aim is to achieve the status of a Sports University and we have begun our groundwork for the same. Along with the Centre of Excellence, we are also looking at creating a Sports Science Centre and a High-Performance Centre to work at producing international-level athletes. These centres will offer students guidance in nutrition, strength training, sports therapy, sports science, biomechanics, sports psychology, and anything else that is needed to develop sportspersons. We will also be setting up a theoretical curriculum for these subjects for students to study. Currently, our institution offers a commerce degree. However, soon, we will look at providing a BBA degree too.” Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (Retd.) added further.
Speaking about starting the 100th-year celebrations, Rohan Damle, said, the unique procession will begin from Tilak Road on October 24 at 7.30 am. “The procession will begin from our Tilak Road campus, go up to Abhinav Chowk, and conclude at our Mukund Nagar campus. The procession will include various demonstrations by our students on Malkhamb, Lezim, Yoga, and Lathi-Kathi. The other attraction during the procession will be the street play on de-addiction put together by our students. Along with the students, all teachers, and management members will participate in the procession. Apart from the procession, we are also excited about the event prior to it. At 5 am there will be a special program of ‘Zor’, an Indian-style dip and push-up. We have received more than 150 registrations for this and there will be a special award for the one who performs 1000 non-stop push-ups.”
About Maharashtriya Mandal:
Way back before Independence, Capt. Shivrampant Damle had recognized the significance of physical education as a part of the school curriculum. To incorporate physical education within school academics and create skilled teachers for the same, Capt. Shivrampant Damle made numerous efforts. Consequently, his vision saw success in 1977, when the degree of Bachelor of Physical Education (B.P. ED) was officially commenced.
Today, Maharashtriya Mandal has spread its wings and has 6 schools and 2 colleges – Seth Dagduram Kataria English Medium High School, Smt. Indirabai Karandikar English Medium School, Kamalabai Shivrampant Damle Pre-Primary and Primary School, Capt. Shivrampant Damle Prashala, Chandrashekhar Agashe College of Physical Education, MMEMPS Pre-Primary and Primary English Medium School and Junior College of Commerce. Along with this, the Trust also runs 15 training institutes focused on good-quality academics and physical education.
