RUN, JUMP AND PLAY*

*(CONDITIONS APPLY)

So,we have come to the end of the greatest show on Planet Earth.Unless you were on a vacation to the Moon or had stolen a ride on NASA’s Mars rover aptly named Curiosity, you would have known that. And for those of you who still haven’t figured it out,I am talking about the Olympics. The endless discussions about which athlete did what and by how much dominated conversations everywhere. It was not as if everybody understood what they were talking about or infact what they were listening to but when countries do battle against one another,everybody becomes a patriot and everybody has an opinion.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, mind you but the problem with us Indians specifically is that we are all just armchair pundits.Everybody has an opinion,everybody has a way out but nobody has the guts to do anything about it. So,while we swooned at male athletes who would have converted a nun and female athletes who would have converted Elton John, our own athletes cut a very sorry figure.  It was with disdain that I watched a country with a population of more than 1.2 billion people fail to produce even a single Olympic gold medalist.

Sure, we have our excuses. The number one excuse is that we are a race that is not built for sports,that we just don’t have the physical stature to compete with others on a global stage, that we are just too small. That argument  might perhaps have had some validity if we were a country of a hundred million people.But,in reality we have a population of more than 1.2 billion.The law of averages states that ,if you start looking for a person over  7 foot tall from this population,sooner or later you surely will hit the jackpot. We just need to look at the Chinese for inspiration.They are a race who perhaps have a smaller built than us. But look at the way they are performing – Participation in every single event and medal hauls good enough to finish 2^nd in two consecutive Olympics. They follow the exact same philosophy.They go looking around for genetically exceptional parents who are either very tall,strong,flexible or have had a noticeable sporting history  and as soon as their child is born,they provide complete care for the child and his family including education,financial assistance and world class infrastructure wherein he can grow up learning and mastering his chosen sport from a very young age.Its a sureshot way to make champions. Of course,this method followed by the Chinese has significant flaws too, as the child usually has to live away from his parents from a very young age. Moreover  the mood in these camps are akin to that of a military camp where the children are harshly punished if they don’t excel. But, if we were to learn from their mistakes and take this concept and put it into practice in a very organized,understanding and sophisticated manner,we would no longer be the sleeping giants that we are today.

Another favorite argument is that we just don’t have the infrastructure to match other countries.That statement is not even an excuse.If we don’t have enough infrastructure, we don’t have anybody else to blame other than ourselves.There is reason for this dire lack of infrastructure and that is the shameful lack of interest and the subsequent lack of funding that the Government invests in sports other than cricket. The Union Budget for the year 2012 put aside only a measly total package of Rs 1,152 crores for sports in India.I call this measly for good reason  as the Indian Olympic Association had requested for around Rs 4,000 crores as the total package.This deficiency of nearly Rs 3,000 crores makes it very difficult for the various sporting federations in India to do what they actually need to do for the betterment of their sport.In stark contrast,the annual income for the BCCI is a staggering Rs 868 crores and they also just deposited a whopping Rs 1175.86 crores in various banks in the country.It is estimated that the interest earned with just this single deposition will be around Rs 97 crores per year. This gross neglect of sports other than cricket will only make us more of a laughing stock in front of the watching world every 4 years.

Now, just forget all these arguments and excuses and let’s focus on what I consider to be the most important reason for the failure of sports in India – The Mindset. In India, sports is not considered as a means to earn a living. It is considered as a pastime and as soon as a child starts loving it or starts spending more time on it,he/she is crucified by their parents and asked to sit down and learn, for that is the only thing that can make him successful.  Sure,there are exceptions but this is the sad fact in most Indian homes. In countries like the United States, almost every kid plays a sport of his liking every single day after school. It is understood that parents and schools have to encourage children to play more and they take the utmost pride in doing everything possible for the same. Parents find time and joy in dropping their children and picking them up from various sporting activities. Whether the child goes onto become a professional athlete is another matter altogether as it is quite understood that all children do not have the capacity to become one. But it’s this intent and mindset that is sorely lacking in our country. I know for certain that there are some people in this very college, who have the requisite level of raw talent needed to perhaps have a career in sports. But sadly, none of them made it, primarily because nobody was there to harness that raw talent and make it into something more. Many of them are even in this college just because their parents forced them to. That is the sad reality plaguing our country. Everybody wants their child to be a doctor or an engineer as soon as they are born. Their career is basically decided for them while they are in the womb itself. Any deviation from this train of thought is considered to be haram. It’s this very mindset that we should all try to change.

At the end of the day, there’s  no point in blaming each other and pointing fingers at a multitude of different factors as a reason for our failure in sports. The fact of the matter is that, whatever said and done, it’s not going to change anything. Change will only be brought about if we decide to walk the talk and be more pro-active. The only thing that is in our hands is the future. A future, that we should not allow to be plagued by the same prehistoric mindset that has ruined our past. We, as the youngsters of this great nation have a moral responsibility to do so. So, let’s not overthink decisions and let’s learn to enjoy the moment. More importantly, let’s promise to bring our kids up in the same way. Let’s encourage them to make decisions for themselves and allow them to do what they truly love. After all, we all just have a single life, don’t we?