The Indian Society And The Struggle Of Our Sports Fraternity

India, the world’s second-most populous nation, fails to show its dominance in sports. In fact, India's performance remains terrible except in few games. So, what's holding India back when it comes to competing in world sporting events like the Olympics?

First, it's the conservative Indian mindset of the Indian society. You might be aware of the saying in India “Padhoge likhoge banoge Nawab, kheloge kudoge banoge kharab” which translates to “You can be a king if you study, can be spoilt if you play games.” Social life of a person who took the plunge of making a career in sports in India can be challenging and demotivating. An Indian parents or teachers, being part of the society, don't consider sports as a career. They have the biggest influence in a child's future ambitions. They may scold the child that “playing a sport will get you nowhere in life, but to make a life you need to be good in academics”. In other words, young Indians are discouraged from playing sports, let alone allowing them to make a career in sports.

Sports people in India often struggle in academics. Sometimes it becomes impossible to make a balance between studies and sports. It is absolutely fine if a sportsperson doesn't perform well in academics. It shouldn't even be a matter of concern if he/she fails in academics. Human mind cannot excel everywhere. The poor performance of a sports enthusiast indicates his/her focus and devotion to something else. The teachers and parents should identify those talents and encourage them to take a career in that direction instead of demotivating them.

The financial conditions also influence one's choice because it needs quite lot of time and money to continue one's training. While the reward and glory comes back only after success. But there is a long road to travel which also needs financial stability besides strength and endurance to keep going. The road can be frightening as it is full of potholes and speed-brakers which sometimes seems to be taking nowhere.

Health is another factor which must be taken into account seriously. Rigorous training do create stress on the muscles and liable to cause injury. Severe injury can make players unfit for the games. Being ousted from the very game you devote your life to can be mentally disturbing. Diet and nutrition is another important health aspect. That's why we do not often see repetition of the previous sportsperson in the next game held four years later. Health issues can make all the training go in vain.

Making a career in sports comes with a risk and nobody wants to take the risk of banking on an unsure or unstable future. One only gets resources after selection at the national level. The government can mitigate risks, if not completely remove it, by providing necessary support which restrict our athletes from excelling.

India does have a vibrant sporting culture and enthusiasts. It is only that the potential of our athletes remains untapped. Government policies should encourage our sports prodigies across the country to dream for the Olympics and eye for gold.

Comments

Protecting Daughters from Gender Discrimination and Dowry System

What is dowry? Casually, some of us find this as a traditional custom of bribing the groom and their family by bride's parents to get rid of their daughter. Or some of us may consider this as buying of groom by bride's parents through a bidding process. We as a part of Indian society are infamous for dowry and its related offences. When a daughter is born, most of the Indian families don't find that joy a son could have given them. Some of them get depressed after finding out the gender of newborn baby. Having a daughter is a burden to them, mostly, because of the social phenomena like dowry. We make noise and protest against corruption. But we never go through its roots and make substantive changes to uproot it. What is the reason for the corrupt officials to take such risks? The dowry is not the "only" but a good and considerable reason to hoard money through corrupt practices. No media has more reach to our society than Bollywood movies. In the plethora of...

Education Emergency — Why Schools Should Open Its Doors

One sector which is silently hit by the Covid-19 pandemic the most is the education. As a precautionary measure, schools were the first to be shut even before a formal announcement of lockdown. After all, education doesn't come under the umbrella of essential services. According to the data from UNICEF, schools for more than 168 million children globally have been completely closed for almost an entire year, and more than 888 million children worldwide continue to face disruptions to their education due to full and partial school closures. In India, only one in four children have access to digital devices and internet connectivity. There is a large rural-urban and gender divide which is why not everyone is able to benefit the digital revolution. Such vulnerable children unable to access remote learning might never be able to get back to learning even after the pandemic fades away, and could be easily exploited as child labor. Shifting Classes Online To those who...

Nuclear Friction - Are We Moving Towards Nuclear Doomsday?

It was a moment of joy for the North Koreans when they heard the news that North Korea has successfully tested H-bomb on January 6th and thus “guaranteed the eternal future of the nation”. But it was also a shocking and despairing moment for others. Followed by the claim, came the condemnation from most other countries of the world including US, Japan, South Korea, and even China (supposed friend of N. Korea). But it was not unexpected that the North Koreans will do a further nuke test after the three previous ones in 2006, 2009 and 2013. But nobody on this earth, or even in space, thought that they would be able to do an H-bomb test. It was a second nuclear test only in four years during the rule of Kim Jong Un, the young head of the mafia family that controls North Korea is a sobering reminder of the progress that three generations of Kims have made in expanding their nuclear capability—despite outside efforts to curb it. Few think that North Korea has yet managed t...

JNU - A Vision of Modern Democratic India

Through the ongoing controversy what we need to understand is that ours is a young nation still in the making which has all the ingredients to become truly a great nation, but it needs time. Give this nation that time, that gestation period and it will show the world the true meaning of greatness, one which is home to a complete spectrum of diverse culture but still thrives together with immeasurable amount of tolerance which has never been experienced anywhere else (this holds for the common citizens of India but unfortunately not for the practitioners of divisive vote-bank politics which they don’t find anti-national). Every powerful nation that exists today has gone through some sort of civil war which led to enormous violence and bloodshed. We too have our share of challenges; be it the Kashmir issue, Nagaland or Naxalism; but we have the opportunity to show the world that we can do it in a better way without any bloodshed. It is that unity in diversity that is the soul of ...

The Magical Castle - Sank Of SATAN-3O1

According to the weather forecast experts, it was an ideal weather for commencing a journey. Therefore, the ship SATAN-3O1 commenced its journey to Guyana. It was containing a large number of gold coins which was to be transported via sea route. During the start of this journey, everything was normal. However, somewhere in the mid sea, the weather became extreme. Suddenly, there were high tides, an unstopping rain and a violent storm. The captain and his co-workers fought the storm bravely but couldn't control the ship, and at last, the ship along with all the gold coins sank as the result of extreme weather. And, all the humans in the SATAN-3O1 became dinner of killer Sharks. The Magical Castle In the sea, the sank SATAN-3O1 has now a major attraction for the sea creatures. It has fallen into Octo uncle's territory. Octo was a wise octopus. He decided to build a castle, with the help of crab and sea ants, around it to protect them against theft. The ugly Octo has now beco...

Kolkata - Drive, Design and Connect

I went to Kolkata with my friends in holidays. We went there via railways, I still remember the great journey from New Delhi to Howrah through Rajdhani Express. We were three friends who agreed to visit Kolkata after a fierce debate. We want to travel to a city we have never been to. But this doesn't mean us to go to a lonely island. We preferred the city that must be well connected with the rest other parts of India and with good roads to drive on because we didn't want our body to be shaken by jerky roads while travelling the city. Kolkata was an ideal choice for us to enjoy our holidays. While reaching the Howrah junction, first we kept noticing the size of the station, the number of platforms and the number of people. I at once said this is too big! All my friends agreed. We also noticed the design and cleanliness of Howrah Junction. It is very much common to the Grand Central station of New York. While we were enjoying the beauty of Howrah junction, one of my friend br...

Turn Your Good Mornings Into Gold Mornings!

E very morning brings sunshine along with unbounded positive energy that inspires us to live life to the fullest. That is why when we wake up from the bed, we find ourselves most relax during the morning. We don't find the pleasant sound of birds chirping, relaxing weather and the aesthetic sunrise any moment of the day other than morning. If there is a lot of stress in our life, there is also enough beauty of life to inspire us. One should be ready to face both faces of life and should not complain about stressful life. A new day also brings new promises or the opportunity to keep yesterday's promise. For example, you promise yourself that "Today I shall submit the assignment" or you promised your kids yesterday that "you will take a leave and go for a vacation". Now, this can be possible only if you are in a good mood. And if your kids demand you to take them out for vacation but you are reserved that day, you cannot just shout at them, you must learn t...

The Sunshine Within You

Search This Blog