9 October 2014 07:15 am Views - 309
Former Sri Lanka shot putt and discuss champion, Talavou Alailima on Tuesday introduced ‘SportUnleash’, a new mechanism to identify children’s aptitude for various sports and physical attributes they possess from a young age as nine years.
Endorsed by a number of eminent personalities including Dr. David Young, a Melbourne - based Orthopaedic surgeon specialized on sports injuries and former Sri Lanka cricket coach Dav Whatmore, the algorithm, a result of a near- two decade of experiments is designed to identify and unlock the true potential of a new generation of sportsmen.
“What we have done is that we have analysed the physical forces a child has and what he is able to generate and match that with the physical demands that comes out of a sport. Not only for a particular sport but also to hold various positions in the sporting field,” said Alailima, a pioneer of the emerging world fitness industry with his chain of “Power World’ Fitness Centres (1994), “Edge” Sports Nutrition Supplements (2005), and “Lion Warrior” Sports High performance programme (2008).
The test are conducted for the children between the ages of 9 to 11.
Among the benefits offered by the report is the ability to identify natural skills and talents during childhood, offering each child the distinctive advantage of choosing the sport best suited to them according to their physical attributes. It also provides those with high potential sufficient time and opportunity as well as the necessary guidance to work on and develop their skills to reach professional world-class levels. “As a result of the SportsUnleash information, when our children pursue the sports where there is physical strengths which match the demand of the sports, they will automatically become passionate, determined and committed to the long term for the chosen sports. As a result, when they commit themselves for a sports for over ten years, their skill levels become world class and their bodies will reach their genetic potentials. This will create a new bread of champions and national players for our country,” the inventor said at the official launched held at Hotel Galadari.
According to Alailima, the information generated will also help parents invest wisely on their children and help the country build a national team second to none.
The algorithm has undergone robust testing by medical experts such as Dr. Nishantha Gunasekera who asserts that he has “...evaluated and exhaustively and critically analysed the science, the algorithm, reports and final application possibilities of the above system’ and has ‘found it to be sound scientifically and robust in application’
The mechanism will be rolled out nationwide with the support of 500 SportUnleash specialists comprising school coaches of various sports disciplines around the island and will be available to the public at an inclusive fee of Rs. 1750 for the 20-page report, aiming to encourage testing among school children. The launch was attended by Prof. Indra de Silva, the warden of S. Thomas College, Mt. Lavinia, Dr. Thurairaja, an expert in sports medicine and former President of the Asian Federation of Sports Medicine, Dr. Seevali Jayawickrama, Director General of the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency and Julian Bolling, former swimming champion. (CF)