Cheers to the indian cricket team ! Winning a test series against the world champions and a one day series against England, IN STYLE, by nailing them down with 5 consecutive wins !! awesome ! way to go team india !
Cricket news aside, it s surprising that, with a population of 1 billion, India finds it hard to win even a few medals at the olympics .. Why is India failing to produce world class sports persons ? (now this happens to be most popular topic for a debate!) Is cricket the culprit ?? To a certain extent, yes, maybe ... but i feel it isn't fair to hold one sport responsible for the misfortune of another (and cricket surely is one very entertaining game ! ) so ... what could possibly be the reason ?
Government policies ? lack of world class coaching ? lack of sponsors ? all these factors surely do contribute to the condition of sports in india but i have no say in the matter, simply because i have no detailed idea about our government policies or any other, to make a comparison :)
So i better stick to the little knowledge i have and write what i have actually seen and experienced ....
In my opinion, india has a problem at the very grassroot level ....that is, the mentality of the people ... to what heights could sports grow when it is considered 'a waste of time'??
Schools .. That is where talents need to be recognised ...Does that always happen ? What priority does sports enjoy in schools ? Holding a sports day each year serves the purpose ?? Yes, with a sports day held, a school can no doubt, boast about their objective of getting an all round development in students ... What actually happens on a daily basis ?Isn't that more important ?
Teachers never manage to finish off their lessons in time and they greedily eye the already inadequate physical training hours and manage to get hold of them too!! Amidst the groaning and grumbling of the students they go on with their ranting, literally beaming !!
Dare to ask for an extra PT hour? Man, that is considered a big mistake in itself !! " Exams are round the corner students !! Make good use of your free time ... Study ! We expect a 100% result from you in the board exams! " blah blah blah ... thats one never ending lecture ! ;)
Now coming to the sports facility in schools ... are they well equipped ? most of the times they are far from impressive .. my school never had a basketball court . ( who knows, maybe i would ve emerged a star basketball player ;) lol thats a joke, considering am a disaster at sports ..physical trainer's least fav student :P ) Students don't get a chance to discover what they are good at .. That's the point i wanted to make...
Does the treatment improve at our very own homes ?? Parents only dream is to see their kids study well,score well, get a good job with a sound income, which means emphasis is always on the studies ... Sports is secondary .. Most of the parents would say "Son, it's studies first ... You ve to give your boards this year and sports would take too much of your time .. Give it a rest this one year, you can always continue it later "
Well, excelling in any field requires a lot of hard work, dedication, sincerity and sacrifice ... Sports is no exception but unfortunately, sports is not getting the respect it rightly deserves .. Do we have any statistics which says how many talents have gone unnoticed even before getting a fair chance or how many more haven't been able to deliver their true potential ? I can surely say it would be a staggering number ...
Well it's never too late for a revolution :) India's performance at Beijing olympics made every Indian proud ... We do have a long way to go, but it surely marks a new beginning for Indian sports and the brighter days ahead !!
2 comments:
great post shwetha... now this is truly a debate topic. cricket is certainly considered next to religion in India. as for other sports, they take a backseat. lack of proper infrastructure for Olympic sports is a big setback. whereas in China, they have a proper "Olympic culture", the main purpose of which is to bring out talents from all across the country. we lack such effort from the Govt. A single Gold medal for the 1st time this year from a billion populated country is a real shame. still, better late than never. this should be followed by a torrent of medal tally in the next Olympics... more medals will certainly bring in more fan following ...
really a well written one...
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