Sermon on the mount
About a 20-minute drive away from Kottayam town on the route to Mannanam there is a sports centre perched atop a hillock. Under the watchful eyes of a priest, the centre has been producing a string of top sportspersons in recent years and quietly revolutionising sports training in the state.
Father Antony Kanjirathinkal, a priest belonging to the congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) who runs the basketball and cricket academies of St Ephrem’s Higher Secondary School has a lot in his mind for the promotion of sports at the grassroots level. Besides spotting talent and nurturing it, the primary aim of his initiatives is to build a world-class sports training centre and help students from poor families get more job opportunities. Already, around 40 students from the academies have been offered jobs in the armed forces, police, KSEB, customs, banks and railways.