Yacht Club - Dignity through Sports

Yacht Club Provides Dignity to underprivileged children through sports and doing a great service

Dignity through Sports

Many sports stars like Sergey Bubka, sprinters P.T. Usha and Carl Lewis came from humble backgrounds

We at The Yacht Club of Hyderabad grooming 15 underpriveleged children of which R.Rajnikanth, stood 3rd in Toppers and Leela Sagar is doing well in Optimist

Category currently at Monsoon Regatta: Suheim Sheikh

Our dream is train 80 to 100 underprevileged Children in Sailing. We have infrastructure in place, says Suheim Sheikh, Founder and President of The Yacht Club of Hyderabad

We have mix of poor and rich sailors in our club. In such a background poor becomes aspirational and rich kids become humble, says Suheim.

Fifteen underprivileged children of the city have earned their dignity through sailing, thanks to The Yacht Club of Hyderabad. These include Rajanikanth, Leela Sagar, Nikhil, Prabhakar, Nagarjuna, Bharath, Vishnu, Praveen Kumar, Shivram, Raju, Prasad, Srikanth, Saibaba, Lokesh

Each of these boys are under privileged. Some of them don't even have parents. Other's parents eke out their live from errand jobs. They cant imagine an expensive sport like Sailing. But, thanks to The Yacht Club of Hyderabad and its founder Suheim Sheikh, they have not only got into sailing, but making it big too.

Nikhil Kumar was selected for a Coaching Camp at Hongkong. A son of a single parent lady fish monger has travelled and got trained by Marek Nostitz Kackowski which otherwise wouldnt have been possible. Marek Nostitz Jackowski is a national coach with the Hong Kong Sailing Federation. He is none other than the one who also coached Olympic team at the Sydney and Athens Games in 2000 and 2004 respectively.
Nikhil nodoubt is an underprevileged but promising sailor. Monda Market to Hong Kong his journey was not that easy. He didn’t even know what was passport. Infact he heard it just then only what it was. He is the first Hyderabad Sailor to achieve such a distinction.

Ragi Rajanikanth doesnt have parents. He came proud third position in Toppers National and won bronze prize on Thursday at the on going Monsoon Regatta 2014. He got into sailing by fluke by his brother. He is into sailing for six years. He is now studying Inter at Royal Junior College at SR Nagar. He came third in Toppers Class in Nationals in the year 2013.

Leela Sagar a 12 year 8th standard boy is studying at Yudhbhava at Begumpet. he lost his father and mother is a care giver to an old man. He ruled the Hussain Sagar lake on the fourth day of the Monsoon Regatta on Friday in Opti National category. He is an another promising sailor from the city. He sailed in many cities-Mumbai, Cochin and Chennai. His dream is to become worked Champion in Sailing and Software Professional in career.

Considered once an affluent sport, Sailing is not now confined to affluent only. Many Hyderabadi youngsters mostly from not so well background now take to Sport Sailing. And they are performing as well. They are emerging as a promising sailors. If given proper coaching and guidance, they will go places and prove that they are on par with the best sailors in the country.

Living up to its credo dignity through sports, young kids here brought from backgrounds where they can hardly afford an education are trained in Sailing. The zeal that they have for learning and sport is par comparison with what the well-provided-for ones do.

We are training many such kids here says Suheim, Founder and President of Yacht Club of Hyderabad.

They have been doing excellent at the competitions as well. It’s an honour to train those who put their heart into it, irrespective of their financial or other capacities, he informs.

The world of sports is replete with famed fables overcoming obstacles of various forms before walking on the path to glory. Tuning their sailing skills, the Yacht Club of Hyderabad is doing a great service

“My mother works as a maid at various places and supports our family. She earns around Rs. 3,000 a month. It is a struggle to make ends meet,” says one boy.

“We provide the infrastructure for these kids, and help them learn this sport. Our motto is to achieve dignity through sport. The likes of champion pole-vaulter Sergey Bubka, sprinters P.T. Usha and Carl Lewis came from humble backgrounds, and they went on to conquer the world. We believe these kids could make a mark in the coming years,” said Suheim Sheikh, founder of the Yacht Club of Hyderabad.

Nikhil, whose mother is a fishmonger, too lost his father over two years ago. However, instead of talking about the hardships his family undergoes, Nikhil chooses to speak on sailing. “Sailing is an obsession for me. I never miss a single day’s practice. This sport helps me forget my troubles, and that’s why I love it so much,” Nikhil said. Much akin to the class of the boats the duo sail on, they remain upbeat about sailing their way through difficulties.

The Yacht Club of Hyderabad is the brain child of Suheim Sheikh, a graduate from IIT Madras, an entrepreneur turned philanthropist who has taken full time to his passion of Sailing. Under the banner of the Yacht Club of Hyderabad, Suheim trains underprivileged children to sail and in the process realized that the water they sail on at Hussain Sagar is in a state of dystrophy and neglect.

Our youth are our future. We are the nation of youngsters, he said. More youth should get into Sailing, he informed

Our dream at The Yacht Club is to train as many as 80 to 100 underpriveleged children. We already have the infrastructure in place. Affluent children are too busy with gadgets. Poor dont have such distractions

We at Yacht Club have mix of poor and affluent. In such an environment, poor becomes aspirational and rich becomes humble informed Mr Suheim Sheikh

Indians are basically scary towards water. We have negative approach towards water. Let us turn this, give our poor children their dignity through sports.