The Maruthi College of Physical Education of the Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidhyalaya in Periyanaikanpalayam is a 65-year-old premium sports college for physical education courses and research training in Coimbatore.

Affiliated to Tamil Nadu Physical Education Sports University in Chennai, the college has two-year physical education programmes at graduate and postgraduate level besides doctorate degrees of M.Phil and PhD. “Graduates can get employed as physical education teachers and postgraduates can become physical directors. Those finishing doctorates can join as college or university faculty,” principal Dr VST Saikumar told The Covai Post.

He has been the principal since 2010 and says, “We have five laboratories. Some special equipment in the physiology lab are digital spirometer to measure running speeds, body mass index (BMI) analyser to measure fat content of body parts and cardio pulmonary exercise machine to measure heart and blood functions.”

Some of the latest equipment purchased with University Grants Commission support are an iso-kinetic machine from the US costing Rs 90 lakh. It is used to measure total muscle strength of athletes to help gauge their training. This machine can be useful for orthopaedists, neurosurgeons and geriatric doctors.

“The machine’s statistics helps in training, reference and research and no other college in India has it. For our bio-metric lab we have purchased an Italian e-sensor aid analyser for Rs 7 lakh to help measure posture, walking and running patterns of athletes. Another is the monarch bicycle ergo-meter from Sweden to measure oxygen consumption and physical endurance,” said Saikumar.

The college has a strength is160 and the students get job offers even before graduation, he says. Students are there from Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

Besides its state-of-the-art machines, Maruthi College also has synthetic indoor tennis and badminton courts, outdoor sports stadiums and training gadgets like cricket bowling machines, shuttle badminton and tennis and table tennis ball-feeding machines with speed adjustments..

The college generously allows other educational institutions to use these machines for a nominal rent. Their visionary plan to produce Olympian style coaches and athletes involves a well-rounded approach.

“We have a nutrition and diet department to constantly monitor and update the physical stamina of the students. This has had a positive response in Coimbatore and other sports fraternities,” Saikumar adds.