Mr John Hemanth Kumar - Sports Psychology Center in Hyderabad !

The Hindu » NATIONAL » ANDHRA PRADESH

HYDERABAD, August 10, 2012 

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/article3748559.ece 

Sports psychology centre to come up in Hyderabad

V.V. Subrahmanyam

For someone who played his part in the Indian Army shooter, Vijay Kumar, winning a silver medal in the London Olympics, Gadam John Hemanth Kumar of Hyderabad has decided to set up what will be certainly the first full-fledged sports psychology centre (by an individual) in the city.

“There is a big need for this and I will set it up in such a way that there will be no specific timings. It should be functional by Children’s Day this year. Anyone interested can just walk in at his or her convenience instead of me fixing visiting hours,” says the 51-year-old Hemanth Kumar, who spent two months with Vijay Kumar in 2008 and taught him the art of being focussed as part of the sports psychology programme. Interestingly, this gentleman kept a low profile till Vijay Kumar actually won a silver and started opening up only now to give an insight into his programmes aimed at sporting excellence. “Any champion needs a bit of sports psychology,” Hemanth insists.

“Yes, any human being can be weighed down by the huge expectations or the prospects of winning or the fear of losing. To stay focussed, you need different kind of training unlike the regular sport-related regimen,” he explains at his residence in the by-lanes of Yousufguda here. “Essentially, we also emphasise on different forms of meditation for different sportspersons. I am happy that the Vipassana meditation worked well with shooter Vijay Kumar,” says the former student of Nizam College and consultant psychologist to Navodaya Schools in South. For this double post-graduate from Tamil Nadu University of Sports, the stint with Vijay Kumar was apparently one of his high-points. “In fact, the ambience at the Army Marksmanship Unit in Mhow is unique as it happens to be the only second such unit in the world besides the one in the United States,” Hemanth Kumar points out.