In a world full of PSPs and Wii, how do you get kids to play real sports? By creating a special sports and fitness programme for them, which is what Deepak and Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan are aiming to do in Bangalore with Jumpbunch India, the first international master franchise of the US based Jumpbunch.
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“Jumpbunch is a fun fitness and sports programme. There is something new every week and the children are always excited and looking forward to what is in store for them,” says Dhanalakshmi.
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| Deepak and Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan |
The focus of the Jumpbunch programmes is to get and keep children, aged 15 months to eight years, interested in sports and fitness activities. This is done by introducing them to a different kind of sport every week.
“You have to deal carefully with children of this age because they have a very small focus level. This is one major factor that has been taken into consideration while designing the curriculum,” she says.
The programme targets children in schools, day care centres and other similar facilities.
With children aged 15 to 24 months, Jumpbunch works at helping them master their ability to focus and follow instructions. For this age group, the teacher-student ratio is around 1:6. For older kids, the ratio goes up to 1:10 or even 1:24.
In schools, Jumpbunch runs a weekly programme, introducing children to a whole range of international sports, including lacrosse, croquet, ice hockey, baseball and soccer. The Jumpbunch programme is run in tandem with the already existing sports curriculum of the schools.
“If they have two hours of basketball or cricket practice, we ask them to give us half an hour within that time-frame,” explains Dhanalakshmi. “We make sure that we expose them to something different from the sports with which they are already familiar, such as cricket and basketball.”
A typical half-hour Jumpbunch session has five minutes of warm-up, five minutes of stretching, 20 minutes of sport activities and five minutes of cooling down. The idea is to educate children about sports and the proper ways of playing.
The Jumpbunch programme can also be customized: Within the same age group, children can be grouped according to their learning speed to make it a good learning experience for them.
Jumpbunch has been running successfully in the US for 14 years. The Srinivasans bought its first international master franchise for Rs 1.2 crore and set up the Bangalore centre in July 2010. The Srinivasans are also the founders of Fun Factory in the city.
Dhanalakshmi says most schools that cater to younger children have no predefined physical education curriculum. “We saw that they have no idea of how to handle the kids. When we approached these schools, they were very enthusiastic about the idea,” she says.
Jumpbunch provides all the equipment that is needed, such as foam and bean bags, sourcing it from the US. It has six members in its team, all US certified, who conduct classes and also carry out marketing activities. Its curriculum is designed for indoors, so the schools are asked to provide space to carry out the activities.
Since the programme provides everything and does not involve any extra hours, the idea sold well, says Dhanalakshmi.
In all, Jumpbunch gives each school 32 classes in a year. “We decided on that number so that the schools can accommodate government holidays and breaks.” The programme usually starts three weeks after classes start.
Jumpbunch offers an inclusive programme and also deals with children with special needs. “For example, at Kara for Kids, we ask them to get one personal helper for each child, who can help the child keep pace with the programme,” explains Dhanalakshmi. These special educators are trained according to the Jumpbunch curriculum and the pace of the programme is increased or decreased to suit the children’s needs. “These children, who have cerebral palsy and autism, learn to develop motor skills. The equipment for them is slightly larger so that they can hold it more easily,” she adds.
“Selling the idea was easy, but initially, the schools were sceptical about whether we could deliver quality within such a limited time-frame. That made us very quality conscious and, in the process, we delivered better,” says Dhanalakshmi.
Jumpbunch India has already made its presence felt in two schools in Bangalore, the Sri Kumaran Children’s Home and the Canadian International School. Since it started its operations in July after the academic year had already started, most schools asked the Srinivasans to come back the next year.
| How are They Different? • Jumpbunch operates with a smaller age group as compared to other start-ups. • It is not a sports clinic and it does not train children in one particular sport. • Its motive is to make sports a fun experience and increase the interest level among children. • It has equipment certified from the US and it is not authorized to use anything else. • It is inclusive and also works with special children. |
They plan to rectify that this year and are already into marketing their product. There is a huge market to be tapped in India, says Dhanalakshmi, and the programme is set to evolve as it slowly establishes itself.
By June 2011, Jumpbunch India plans to start work with 6,000 students from schools in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. “That would probably mean four-eight schools. But it depends on the number of children in each school. For example, Kara for Kids wants to get into co-branding with us in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai and it has linked us up with 300 kids. Canadian International has more than 1,000 kids in its potential network,” explains Dhanalakshmi. In the US, Jumpbunch has 20,000 children in its programme every week.
“In the US, the situation is a lot more different. They are looking at child obesity. We are now where the US was 20 years ago. We have no space for such activities, no motivation, no direction. If you have a great time, you really remember it. That is what Jumpbunch is all about. We want kids to look at sports in a new light and make them a habit,” says Dhanalakshmi.
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