Bhubaneswar: The Sports Science India (SSI), under the leadership of Dr. Sarthak Patnaik, successfully launched its flagship Young Athlete Program (YAP) at Happy Hours School, Saheed Nagar, here on Saturday. With a feature plan to expand the YAP across schools in Odisha and India,

The inaugural camp witnessed enthusiastic participation from more than 50 students along with their parents and teachers, making it a significant step towards integrating sports science into school education.

The YAP is an initiative of SSI dedicated to identifying and nurturing young sporting talent through scientific assessment and evidence-based guidance. The program focuses on physical literacy, movement analysis, fitness evaluation, injury prevention and long-term athlete development, enabling children to discover their sporting potential from an early age.

During the camp, children underwent age-specific sports science assessments while parents and teachers were educated on the importance of fitness, nutrition, posture, injury prevention and structured athletic development.

The camp was guided by Sports Physiotherapists Dr. Dibya Prakash Kar, Dr. Pooja Mehta and Dr. Dawa Sherpa, with valuable assistance from Subhadra, Sandhya and Pravasini, whose dedication ensured the smooth conduct of the program.

While thanking the Happy Hours School Principal, SSI Founder Dr Sarthak Patnaik said "The YAP is a vision to introduce sports science at the grassroots level. Every child deserves an opportunity to understand their physical strengths and develop in a safe, scientific and structured manner”.