An evening with Mr Suheim Sheikh
On Friday, June 2, we had an inspiring session by Mr. Suheim Sheikh, the President and Chief Coach at the YCH Sports Foundation (the erstwhile Yacht Club of Hyderabad). Mr. Sheikh is also a Council Member of the Yachting Association of India, the flagship body for sailing in India.
About Mr Suheim Sheikh
Mr. Suheim Sheikh is an IIT Madras alumnus who architected award-winning software products for the Financial Services Industry. He was a global pioneer in the realm of Financial Crime Software. His products have been installed at more than 75% of Indian Banks and Stock Exchanges and in Financial Institutions across the world.
Mr. Sheikh quit his corporate career to pursue his passion of photography and sailing. An accomplished international sailor, Mr. Sheikh has produced 10 National Champions, 75 National medalists and 10 State Champions through the The Yacht Club of Hyderabad. This is the largest not-for-profit training establishment that is teaching economically challenged kids to sail competitively at international levels. With a fleet of more than 165 boats, the club provides them full-service patronage.
Mr Sheikh launched the Project Naavika for girl sailors. Thanks to the project, as many as nine girls have been selected to represent India at multiple World Championships. One of his proteges Preethi Kongara will represent India in the 2023 Asian Games at Hangzhou China.
Meanwhile, some 20 of Mr Sheikh’s sailors have been absorbed by the Army and Navy Sports Schools and some have been selected into the armed forces as officers with promising careers.
Mr Sheikh has received the Admiral Kohli Trophy for the promotion of the sport of Yachting.
How about tonight?
After leaving his corporate career, Mr. Sheikh wanted to leverage his long sailing experience. He realized the challenges of people wanting to be involved in this sport. It remained an elitist sport with a lot of money needed to buy boats and to take part in international competitions.
Mr. Sheikh’ own ability to sail was the result of being the member of an elite club. Participation was restricted to the rich and to those in the Army and Navy. It seemed completely unfair that with such a vast coastline and with so many lakes across India, more people could not sail.
Mr. Sheikh’s immediate focus was on providing access to the lake for ordinary people. Those days, the access was limited to elites like members of the Secunderabad Club. He approached the government and got an appointment with the Commissioner, Mr. Acharya. When he walked into the room, Mr. Acharya was silent and going through the proposal. It was Mr. Sheikh who was doing most of the talking. Finally, the commissioner asked: When do you want the project to be commissioned? Mr. Sheikh replied boldly:” How about tomorrow morning?” Mr. Acharya’s response stunned Mr. Sheikh: “Why not tonight?”
The transformation
Mr. Sheikh worked in right earnest to clean up the waterfront and create conditions for sailing. He started with 3 little boats. Today, there are 165 boats and the number is growing. For 25 years the Lake was devoid of kids learning to sail. Mr Sheikh and his team lit up the lake with a hundred boats with the Monsoon Regatta. It is now a National Ranking Championship. (See figures below.)
Over the years, YCH has made enormous progress in terms of the participation of its children at prestigious sailing competitions.
Khadakwasla Lake, 2011 (5)
Chennai Harbor, 2012 (8)
First National Gold Medal Bhopal, 2014 (11)
India International Regatta Chennai, 2015 (13)
Chennai Harbor, 2016 (25)
Krishnapatnam, 2018 (32)
Marve Beach Bombay, 2019 (60)
Today (131)
YCH provides its children free of cost:
- Athlete Level Nutrition and Supplements
- Education
- Professional Fitness Programs
- Physio Assistance
- Medical Assistance
- Boarding
- Lodging
Success stories
Rajnikanth: 12-year-old Rajnikanth was working as an assistant at the club. This orphan boy was being looked after by his brother. Mr. Sheikh pushed him into sailing. He became a national champion in just 2 years. He is now a qualified lifesaving specialist and a coach.
Sachin: Sachin joined the club when he was very young. Within a few months, he was sailing in the Bay of Bengal. He joined the Navy Sailing School. He even met the Union Minister of Defense.
Durgaprasad: Durga Prasad became club champion in a few months. Then he went on to win the state, national, and Asian championships. He has also taken part in the world championships.
Gautam: Gautam became state champion, won the national bronze, and then became the national champion. He was selected by the Indian Navy.
Rishab Nayar: Rishab Nayar became the state champion. He then became national champion three times in 2015, 2016, 2017. In 2017, he won the championship along with Mr. Sheikh (who took part in the Masters).
Sirisha Karee: Sirisha Karee from Padigyal village was initially angry and indifferent. But success and recognition made her smile.
Vaishnavi Veeravamsham: She has been to the world championships in Spain, Portugal, Oman, Abu Dhabi, Italy, and France.
Preethi Kongara: She has been the biggest success till date. It is truly an inspiring story. Preethi’s father, a security guard, passed away in 2012 when she was 9 years
Her widowed mother, a pillar of support for Preethi, serves as a housekeeping maid at an Airtel office at Hyderabad India.
In 2016, Preeti joined the Naavika Program from the Nallakutta Government school. In 2019, she became the Sub-Junior National Champion. In 2022, she became the senior National Champion. As mentioned earlier, she has been selected for the 2023 Asian Games, Hangzhou. Preeti hopes to win a medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
- Sept 2021 YAI Senior Nationals 2021 Championship, Mumbai 5th POSITION.
- Nov 2021 - All India Westcoast Championship Mumbai- SILVER
- Dec 2021 - National Ranking Event Mumbai - BRONZE
- May 2022 Nationals: GOLD
- May 2022 YAI Senior Championships: SILVER
- Nov 2022 YAI Senior Championships (First Asian Games Selection Trials): GOLD
- Jan 2023 AIl India (2nd Asian Games Selection Trials): SILVER
- Feb 2023 YAI Championship 3rd Asian Games Selection Trials: SILVER
- Lakshmi Nookarathnam, India no. 4
- Jhasi Priya Laveti, India no. 1
- Dharani Laveti, India No.5
- Ravali Parandi, India No.1/6
Preeti’s achievements include:
Mr Sheikh also spoke about some of the other medal winners:
It is matter of great pride for Mr. Sheikh that 21 children from his club have joined the Armed Forces.
On his moment of inspiration
During his student days at IIT Madras, Mr. Sheikh noticed that the sweepers and toilet cleaners of IIT Madras were the only temporary workers on the campus. They were not allowed to join the labor union. They were the most marginalized and exploited of all the campus workers. Mr. Sheikh would find ways and means of helping them find part-time jobs to make more money while he was the Editor of the Campus Magazine or running the Students Canteen or the Students Festival. In his final year, one morning, about 50 of the workers got together and dragged the powers that be to his hostel room to unanimously appoint him as the student authority to represent their interests to the Management. He was thereby conferred the title of Student Coordinator of Sweepers and Toilet Cleaners on Campus.
The young Suheim felt honored. That was indeed one of the most touching moments in his life. He became determined to devote his life to a larger cause. So, after Mr Sheikh sold his software company, working with the marginalized seemed the ideal pursuit.
Dignity through sports
Looking back, Mr. Sheikh summed up his learning. All we need is a touch of insane sincerity and the universe will come together to help us take the world to where it ought to be. When we have a new idea and do not know when to start; the question we should ask ourselves is: “How about tonight?”
Q&A
For a long time, Mr. Sheikh depended on his own funds and those of his friends whom he would call for help. The concept of CSR did not exist in those days. So corporate funding was hard to come by. Once the results started coming and Mr. Sheikh’s proteges started winning tournaments, donors became more forthcoming.
Sailing builds confidence in people. it inculcates a respect for the environment. Because of travel, sailing creates a world view. People learn to take failure in their stride as in any other sport. The business of survival on water builds character. When there is a storm in the middle of the sea, one is either rescued or gets involved in rescuing others. This teaches teamwork.
Responding to another related question, Mr. Sheikh mentioned that there are negative examples of successful sports people when they move into sports leadership roles. But there are positive examples as well like Rahul Dravid. Overall, sports does build confidence, discipline and perseverance. One gets used to winning and losing. One does not give up easily. In general, sportspeople also tend to be cheerful. In short, sports is a good thing to be a part of in the absence of any better alternative.
The main objective is to provide a good life to the underprivileged children. Most of the children come from poor families with incomes of Rs 10-25,000 per month. They are typically from small villages or the slum areas in cities. The endeavor is to change their lives. Of course, for the thousands who enroll, only a few survive.
YCH is one of the largest sailing clubs in the world and certainly the largest in the country. Scalability involves various challenges. The last mile effort of mobilizing children is a major challenge. The per capita cost is also high. The price of boats is in the range of Rs 3-14 lakhs. Preeti’s boat costs Rs 16-18 lakhs. An overseas championship can cost Rs 25 lakhs. So we have to create many Preethis. It is only by increasing the denominator that the costs can come down.
During his software industry days, Mr. Sheikh had a strong second layer. So, he could offload many responsibilities to them. At YCH, also, he is creating a strong administrative layer. He has already rolled out a succession planning exercise. This will also enable scalability.
In countries like the US and the UK, there are sports scholarships. Unfortunately, we do not have them in India. But things are improving. Sportsmen like Abhinav Bhindra and organizations like Go Sports and Simply Sports are playing an important role. PSUs employ sportsmen. All this will encourage children to take up sports. But it will take some more time before sports becomes a mainstream option for children.
Responding to another question, Mr. Sheikh mentioned that efforts are already on to take sports to the people. Many grassroots initiatives have been rolled out in states like Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and Assam. Government support is also not lacking. It is the government which provides land, buildings, and most other infrastructure. There are many IAS and IPS officers who are doing a lot of good work to help the marginalized. So, things are improving. Indian sports is clearly on the ascendant. Maybe we can move faster. Much more can be done.
Responding to another question, Mr. Sheikh mentioned that in 15-20 years, we probably can win 15-20 Olympic medals. But if we want to catch up with China, it may take 40 years. China’s methods are different. They catch children when they are young and put them through a regimented regime. In India, participation is more voluntary. We do not necessarily need to emulate China to accelerate our progress.
At the age of 9-12, it is difficult for a child to be fully clear about what she wants to do in life. All kids have some talent. It is a matter of discovery. So, Mr. Sheikh just brings the kids to the venue after persuading parents and schools. They are then tested for basic physicals. Other factors considered are parental support (crucial to prevent absenteeism), sense of balance, spiritedness (enthusiasm). There is no rigorous selection process as such. Only about 15% get weeded out. All the other children drop out on their own. Finally, a small number is left who go on to excel. The key challenge is to get the children to the location. Mobilization of children is a big focus area for Mr. Sheikh this year.
Only a small percentage (a few basis points) of children who enroll succeed in sports. So, we cannot afford to ignore academics. It should be there as a back up option.
This is a huge issue. We are a patriarchal society. So there is a domineering attitude towards women. Drunken fathers beating up their daughters is quite common. Girls get used to being badly treated. We need to conduct life skills sessions to educate girls and build awareness.
Mental health is also a big issue. We do not have enough professionals who can help sportswomen who are going through a rough patch.
The Navika project is a step towards the empowerment of women.
This is already happening in cricket, golf, and athletics. Tennis and sailing are elite sports. More resources are needed. YCH is moving into other sports like table tennis where costs are lower.
In sailing, there has been a dramatic shift in the selection process. There are clear rules for selection. It is based on numbers and metrics so that it has become merit eased. That is the way all the sports federations in the country should work. They should go beyond subjective considerations.
Currently YCH is working with NGOs. Much more needs to be done to provide access to the children. If buses can be arranged to bring children to the venue, it would be of great help.