Kids practising how to tee off at The Heritage School and (below) climbing enthusiasts of South Point School hone their skills on an artificial “rock face” on the campus

City schools are going the extra mile — and charging the extra buck — to turn extra-curricular activity into a different ball game from the days when basketball coaching was considered special.

Golf, rugby, polo, archery, rifle shooting and even rock climbing — more and more schoolchildren in the city are training in these sports either on the campus or at clubs with which their institutions have tied up.

At The Heritage School, 2.15pm to 3.30pm every day is golf, archery or rifle-shooting time. “Both students and parents have become much more aware (about the importance of extra-curricular activity) and are asking for more options. We have started offering even golf lessons,” said Seema Sapru, the principal of the school.

Heritage charges Rs 1,200 per quarter from each student as sports fees.

At South Point High School, Saturdays have become a whole lot more exciting since the authorities set up an artificial rock-climbing arena on the campus. Students of Class IX-XII don their climbing gear and hone their skills on a 16-foot high “rock face” made of iron and plywood.

“We have had this facility for sometime now, and it has become very popular. Earlier it was only boys; now many girls are signing up for coaching,” said Kavita Banerjee, the physical education teacher of South Point.

Space is not a constraint for the new-age schools. Those that can’t set up facilities on the campus are offering students the opportunity to learn niche sports by tying up with clubs that have the requisite infrastructure. So Calcutta International School, on the Bypass, offers squash coaching to its students for Rs 500 a month even though it doesn’t have the courts yet.

“For now, we have tied up with the Racquet Club, where our students go to play. But we are setting up two courts on our premises,” said Anuradha Das, the principal of Calcutta International School.

Students skating at Heritage School

La Martiniere for Boys is drawing up plans to introduce polo. Students who are willing — and whose parents can afford to pay the fee — will be able to train at the Calcutta Polo Club.

“It is an expensive sport but some of our students have shown an interest. The fee is Rs 2,500 for the first course (one to three months),” said a teacher.

The school already offers rugby as an extra-curricular option.

The popular picks among niche sports include those that used to be the domain of the armed forces.

Around 300 students from various schools trooped into Nalban Sporting Complex recently to learn the basics of sailing at a five-day event organised by the Yachting Association of India in association with the army’s Eastern Command headquarters.

“We would like to take this up as a regular sport if there is a club somewhere that will allow our students to train,” said a teacher at La Martiniere for Boys.

While there are instances of students taking up a sport they do not like just because their peers are doing it, many go back to what they are good at.

Sourajit Saha, a Class IX student at The Heritage School, has become a state-level archer after briefly giving up the sport for rifle shooting. “I had joined my friends at rifle shooting but I soon realised that I wasn’t very good at it. I was better at archery; so I went back to it,” he said.