Khushi takes a leap, swings in the air lands on her feet with a flourish. She performs multiple somersaults with a ease that makes one wonder if her limbs are the most tensile thing on the planet. After every act she comes to her coach who has a stop watch with him. They discuss how the 13-year-old can do better in the next act. After the short feedback round, she is again on the springboard.

Khushi, one of the 300 children at the capital’s Indira Gandhi Stadium (IGI) stadium under the ‘Come & Play’ (CAP) scheme, is training to become a gymnast

The scheme is an initiative of the union ministry of sports and youth affairs whereby five sports authority of India (SAI) stadia have been thrown open to the public for training in 16 sports disciplines.

For the last seven years, when Khushi was getting trained at the IGI, she had access to the halls and equipment meant only for beginners.

Now with the CAP, she and her fellow participants are availing of world class equipment. “This is unlike anything I have seen before. To become an international gymnast, you cannot ask for more in terms of apparatus. Also, this hall is much bigger than the previous one and I can see others perform too. It helps in improving my acts,” says Khushi, who lives in Janakpuri, around 20 km from IGI stadium.

What is working for Khushi and others like her is the fact that the scheme is not limited to games such as cricket and football which have caught the imagination of the nation. It has something for everybody.

Since the launch of  CAP, more than 11,000 participants have got themselves registered in various disciplines like judo, badminton, basket ball, volleyball, gymnastics, cycling, shooting, table tennis and wrestling with ubiquitous cricket and football included.

“The local sports complexes in my area and elsewhere in the city have nothing for someone like me who is interested in gymnastics,” says she.

Poor or absent sports infrastructure in most parts of the city is also working in favour of the scheme.

“All these years, these stadia were accessible only to players training for national and international events. Citizens of Delhi lost majorly on the sports cult. We are compensating for all this through the CAP scheme,” says R K Raghav, administrator, IGI stadium.

He has a point. For those getting registered under the scheme, the home to stadium distance is hardly a consideration. And the mode of communication does not matter.

Santosh Maurya lives in Narela, on the fringes of Delhi. He travels two hours daily to reach the IGI at 7am and stays here till 5 in the evening. Santosh wants to become a boxer. “In the next one year, I will play at national level,” says the class 12th student with the confidence of a trained boxer. He is able to spend 10 hours at the stadium during his summer vacations. He will not have this luxury once his school starts. “Then I will come to the stadium by 3pm and stay back till late evening,” he says. 

Santosh’s coach S R Singh believes that for those like Santosh, CAP is a nurturing ground. “The performance of our boxers in CWG has infused new life in the sports. The impact is for you to see,” says Singh. “Saare hi Vijender Singh  banna chahte hain (all of them want to become Vijender Singh),” he adds.

S R Singh and nine other coaches have 500 plus participants getting trained under them.

Training under the supervision of a qualified coach is an added advantage apart from the extensive infrastructure, the kids admit.

Rahul Kaushik, 18, knows it better than many cricket aspirants at the National stadium. It is the search for an experienced coach that has brought him to the stadium, an hour's drive from his Pashchim Vihar home. “No coach can guarantee success. But a good coach identifies the strengths and weaknesses of his protege in no time. All the coaches here are qualified and masters in their field,” he says.

“In addition to 10 SAI coaches, 5 students of national institute of sports (NIS), Patiala, are here as coaches,” says Uma Dutta, administrator, Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium (MDCNS) explaining how the SAI stadia are tackling the rush.

There are no strict criteria for registration to CAP scheme- another reason for huge rush at the registration counters.

Registration is on first come first serve basis. There is no enrollment fee - just monthly fee ranging from Rs 75 to Rs 500 depending on the sports discipline. All the registrations are reviewed quarterly. Girls and participants studying government schools have to pay one third of the actual fee.
No wonder, Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium, the only SAI stadium offering football training has more than 1,900 registrations and National stadium, the only choice for cricket aspirants has over 2,500 entries.

But there is a catch.

In almost all the stadia implementing the scheme, the participant to coach ratio is skewed.

There are 15 coaches for 2,600 cricket aspirants in MDCNS. And there are nine hockey coaches for 478 participants.

“You see, we have made schedules in such a manner that the coaches are spending equal time with all the players,” says Dutta.

One of the coaches opens up about the fact that there should have been a cap on the maximum number of registrations in each discipline.

“The minister’s idea was not to have any strict criteria for registration so that maximum number of people could come,” says one of the coaches on the condition of anonymity, referring to Ajay Maken, the union minister for sports and youth affairs, the man behind the scheme.

Rachana Govil, director, SAI, does not see it as a problem though. “I believe this is a healthy trend. The number (2,600 registration for cricket in the National Stadium) looks big but we have divided the participants in various groups on the basis of their age, fitness and experience. Also, there eight pitches in the stadium. So, it is never over crowded,” she says.

In fact, Govil is excited about the next level of the scheme where it will become a talent hunt exercise. “We are monitoring the performance of each player. In six months from now, we will identify the players who can be groomed to play at the national level. Coaches will pay special attention to them.”