Exclusive sports club now available for children

By Primastuti Handayani

JAKARTA (JP): Healthy children are what everyone expects. But being healthy, physically and mentally, is not enough. Children must be both healthy and happy.

Fun is a crucial element in the development of a child. Unfortunately this is sometimes overlooked by parents.

Many children are fed with an educative diet both at school and at home. From an early age they often have to take extra lessons in foreign languages and math. Parents try to provide them with everything related to educational needs, but there is one thing they forget. Children need to have fun.

How can children have fun if they spend most of their time studying? How can they have fun if they are isolated from the outside world?

Funs means a feeling of amusement and this is what they need after enduring the daily routine of school.

There are many ways to have fun. One of them, which is very simple but is often forgotten by adults, is by playing a sport.

Sport brings happiness and joy to children and through such recreational activities young people can also develop the values of sportsmanship and teamwork.

There are not many schools which have spacious fields where students can participate in sport. Some schools are located in housing complexes, which obviously do not have adequate open space for the children to even practice gymnastics.

Now the question is: where can children play sports?

Kidsports is the answer.

Opened in Jakarta in August and officially inaugurated last week by State Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman, Kidsports provides sports facilities for children.

The motto of Kidsports is "a place where children feel good about themselves and the world around them so they will grow and mature into healthy adults."

Located in the Pondok Indah Golf and Country Club in South Jakarta, the 1,200-square-meter building has four classes and two halls. Children can also enter a tunnel and find games in an arena called the Adventure Challenge, which can accommodate up to 100 kids.

Kidsports is the brainchild of Gary R Seibert, He established such center in Pennsylvania in 1987, after observing that there was a lack of sports facilities for children. He was concerned with the fact that many children played in the street.

Today, there are 51 Kidsports branches around the world.

Seibert guarantees that all equipment used in the arenas are safe. "They are produced by a qualified manufacturer and meet the safety standards in the United States," he said.

All Kidsports staff have to undergo a two-month training course in the U.S., he added.

Members

The Femina Group publication, which bought the Kidsports franchise, expects to get 500 members by the end of the year. Since August it has already attracted 150 members aged between six months and 12 years old, according to Dyah Ratna, manager of Kidsports.

Given that Kidsports is located in an exclusive residential area in South Jakarta, many people may think that it charges high fees. They would not be entirely wrong.

Parents who want to send their children to Kidsports have to pay a Rp 500,000 (US$210) enrollment fee. The monthly fee for the first child is Rp 95,000 and all other children are charged only Rp 75,000.

In addition, they also have to pay class fees, which depend on the frequency of their visits. A twice-per-week class costs Rp 150,000 and the fee for a four-times-a-week class is Rp 215,000.

Nonmembers

Non-members' children can also play in Kidsports by paying Rp 8,000 for the first hour on work days, and Rp 5,000 for each following hour. At the weekends, the rate is Rp 10,000 for the first hour and Rp 6,000 thereafter.

For many children, however, playing at Kidsports is an unaffordable luxury.

Pia Alisjahbana, a member of board of directors of Femina women's magazine, promised that Kidsports will allow orphans and children with disabilities to use the facilities for free.

In the U.S., Kidsports cooperates with social organizations like the Rotary Club, the Lions Club and even churches to facilitate such programs.

Pia said that there is also a possibility Kidsports might set up similar facilities in other places in the city for children from less affluent families.

She made the statement in response to Hayono's call that Kidsports and the city administration should work together to provide facilities with simpler and cheaper equipments in an effort to keep the children off the streets.

"It is a bright idea if we can build other Kidsports all over Jakarta to accommodate children," she said.

Hayono said that people do not only do sport to break records.

"Sport is fun," he said.

It is not easy to realize the idea. Idealism and commitment, as well as hard work and money are required. But this should not discourage Pia from working on the idea.