Sunitha Peter (Vice Principal, Ankur)

Every quiet morning of our residential school campus begins with a blow of whistle. At Ankur, that quiet has, over the past few years, been giving way to something louder and far more joyful, the thud of a volleyball, the squeak of basketball shoes on a court, the rhythmic pounding of feet on a running track. It is the sound of a scholarship programme discovering, match by match, season by season, that its children are not just academically capable. They are athletes. Competitors. Champions in the making.

More Than a Co-Curricular Activity

For a programme built on the belief that every child deserves the full architecture of opportunity, not just a classroom, but a stage, a field, a track and sport at Ankur was never meant to be an afterthought. It has grown, quietly and deliberately, into one of the clearest expressions of what the Ankur experience is about: children who arrive from underserved communities finding out, what it feels like to represent something larger than themselves and to be genuinely good at it. The scoreboard tells part of that story. The rest of it lives in the names that repeat, season after season, on team sheets and captaincy lists, a proof that what started as participation has matured into a genuine culture of excellence.

A Legacy of Leadership on the Field

Since 2020-21, TSA’s school sports captaincy, the highest sporting honour a student at the school can hold has passed through a steady line of Ankur scholars: Jagadish Ramachandra, Sania Vallikar, Yashwanth Anand, Mithun. Each carried the role forward for their year, then handed it on to the next Ankur child, unbroken. What stands out is not just the continuity, but the grooming built into it. Abhishek Siddappa served as Vice Captain in 2025-26 before stepping up to Captain the very next season, and the pattern repeats into 2026-27 with Debashish taking the captain’s armband and Tarun R named vice captain, a deliberate pipeline where today’s understudy becomes tomorrow’s leader.

This is, in its own way, a leadership development programme running quietly alongside the fixtures list where responsibility is earned on court and field before it is ever handed over, and where, year on year, it is an Ankur child who earns TSA’s trust to lead its Sports Excellence.

The Breakthrough: Silver, Nationals, and Best Player Awards

If Ankur’s sporting story has a defining chapter, it was written in October 2023. On the 12th of that month, at Vidyasanskar International School on Magadi Road, the TSA volleyball team carried by its core of Ankur players did something it had never done before; they reached the final of the CBSE Clusters and claimed silver, out of 176 competing schools, after eight relentless, back-to-back matches. Yashwant Anand’s individual brilliance through the tournament earned him the Best Player of the Tournament award, a personal milestone inside a historic team achievement. It was a result built on teamwork and sheer dedication, and it opened a door that had never opened before: a state selection to the National Volleyball Championships in Uttar Pradesh, carrying Ankur players onto a national stage.

Ten days later, on the football pitch at Lovedale School in Belgaum, TSA’s footballers matched that achievement, finishing runners-up among 72 teams at the CBSE Clusters and sending players onward to the Nationals in Kerala. Abhishek Siddappa’s performance in goal was recognised with the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament award

These weren’t isolated flashes of form. They were the moments the Ankur children carrying TSA’s colours announced that determination and consistency always pay well.

Beyond the Scoreboard

Not every story here is about a trophy. In October 2023, two students, Amrutha and Swetha, competed in an inter-school Kho-Kho match, fighting their way through the rounds to the semifinals before their run ended. There was no medal at the end of it. But there was resilience, sportsmanship, and the unmistakable beginning of an athletic journey which is, in many ways, the truer measure of what sport at Ankur is meant to build. Every child on that team sheet, whether they end the season with a medal or a lesson in loss, is being handed the same thing: the experience of striving, together, for something difficult.

Depth Across the Board

What is easy to miss in any single headline result is just how wide the net has been cast. Ankur children, playing for TSA, have competed and placed across volleyball, basketball, football, athletics and Kho-Kho, at venues stretching from Bangalore’s own school circuit to a state-level meet at Kanteerava Stadium and regional clusters in Davangere and Raichur.

The 2024-25 season alone carried TSA’s teams built around their Ankur core through more than a dozen inter-school and CBSE cluster tournaments. Along the way came a volleyball girls’ team win, and individual sports championship titles for Lalith (senior category) and Saidath (junior category) at the TSA Annual Sports Day. That same Sports Day produced a medal haul of 74 gold, 76 silver, and 11 bronze across the student body and it is here, on TSA’s own turf, competing for themselves rather than representing the school, that Ankur’s children have consistently taken home the overwhelming share of the podium finishes.

The following season built on that foundation with even greater range: a 3rd-place finish at the Volleyball CBSE Cluster among selected students from Grades 7 to 12, a runner-up finish for the girls’ team at the Interschool Volleyball Tournament and wins on the basketball court against SVM and in interschool competition.

Individual results from the Carmel Academy tournaments further reflect the depth of sporting talent at TSA. The highlights include a second-place finish in volleyball at Carmel Academy, where Anurag was awarded as the Best Attacker; the U-17 girls’ volleyball team emerging champions; and the boys’ basketball team lifting the Carmel Academy Cup, with Bhumika being awarded as the Best All-Rounder. At Candor International, TSA secured first position in both in Volleyball under 17 boys’ and girls’ tournament. The success continued at the BS Sports Carnival, where TSA’s U-17 and U-19 boys’ football teams emerged champions, securing outright victories.

In August 2026, Ankur students represented TSA at the State Level Athletics meet at Kanteerava Stadium where Saidath just missed a bronze by.02 seconds. An entire cohort of twelve students from Grade 7 through Grade 12 in the recent Athletics Clusters, competed in sprints, relays, long jump, high jump and shot put. Seventeen students participated in Volleyball Clusters VIII at Dr. Sidhant Danigond Central School, Bagalkot and secured Bronze. 14 students participated in Interschool Volleyball tournament at Sri Kumarans School and emerged as runners -up where Bhumika received the best player award.

This year, 37 students are undergoing systematic karate training, progressing through the belt levels from Yellow to Orange to Green, with the goal of becoming Black Belt champions.

Sometimes, the results are “lost” or “participation,” the pattern underneath is unmistakable: Ankur children are showing up, tournament after tournament, against multiple schools and increasingly, they are winning. Growth in a sports programme is rarely a straight line. It is a curve, and Ankur’s curve is unmistakably rising.