NATIONAL SPORTS DAY SPECIAL: Take interest and simply inspire a generation

The country celebrates National Sports Day today on the eve of birth anniversary of Dhyan Chand. His spirit will however be wondering if it still wants its name to be associated to a day which very few know about. So, we need to engage ourselves and introspect, to make India a sports power.

To start with take this small Sports Quiz:

• What was the (approx.) size of the Indian London Olympic contingent? OR Roughly, how many categories of Olympic Sports did India participate in?

• Name the darling of the country, whose grandmother didn’t come to see her for a month when she was born, only because she wanted a boy-child?

• A 22-year old, Irfan Thodi Kolothum was India’s bid at Men’s 20km walk. Recall what was his rank in the final event? (Clue: He did fairly well and was a little under 2m behind the Gold Medal winner)

• What actually happens in the ‘Double Trap’ Shooting event in which Abhinav Bindra won the Gold Medal in 2008, Beijing Olympics? i.e. what do you shoot at?

• Mumbai Marathon is an event that happens every year in Mumbai in the month of January. Take a guess how many people participate in it, every year?

• Lastly, remember the motto of London Olympics?

If you didn’t answer many correctly, that summarizes the level of sports awareness in our country.

Sadly, this time around, the reason for this is not the Government, Federations or the media. It’s us and each one of us.

It starts from the very way we are brought up in our society and how our thinking shapes up as we grow. We hardly do our bit to ‘Inspire a Generation’.

This article tries to analyze how each one of us can contribute to develop a country which loves a diverse arena of sports and its sportsmen.

Schools:
Educationalists believe academics and a good dose of sports on a regular basis can form a deadly combo in the overall child development.

Schools should counsel parents that sports is not a recreational activity but , an essential medium of overall personality development. Sports teach team work, stress management, perseverance, endurance, mental strength, communication skills. None of these skills are honed in academics.

These children, seeing each other play (some) sports will grow up to a generation of sports lovers.

Common citizen, i.e. WE

How many of us just go out to parks, grounds, academies, nearby and look-out for what Sports are being played in our vicinity?

Many a times, there are small time sport academies that do wonderful work but don’t get much visibility because of poor interest by locals.

Imagine, if in an elementary-level tournament, you and your friends gather to cheer the young players playing the match. How much difference will it make to a bunch of performers?

Can we pick any sport and make a small beginning in our neighborhood?

Fan Clubs:

One doesn’t need to witness only Olympics or a match in a stadium to support or popularize a sport. Fan Club can be an answer. Fans stay connected, communicate with each other, and organize things at their own level.

In European countries, Fan Clubs have a huge say in administration. The administrators there have to take into account what the Fan Club thinks about a given issue.

Manoj Mahala, a passionate sports lover based in Bangalore, runs an online ‘Hockey Fan Club’. He says, “Many of my friends never followed Hockey but follow it now, only after his Fan Club came into existence.” Inspired by the positive response, he is planning to develop a comprehensive database of Hockey playing Academies in the country so that people are better linked to each other.

Sports Club:

One can start their club in whatever sport they feel passionate about. Rural Development Trust in Anathpur (run by Spainards) and Bua Sa Village Hockey Academy (run by a German woman) in Rajasthan are only a pointers to us for the path we should be soon embarking upon.

Government, Federations:

It’s a fair argument that Federations don’t do their work properly and many a times, Government falls short in providing the required infrastructure but we as individual have limited our creative potential by this argument.

When large number of clubs come up in various sports, Government and Federations will automatically become more serious about the Sport, per se.

Consider the example of Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha. Why certain sports are more popular here? The community takes interest in it, the Government simply follows it. It’s a democratic set-up. The thing people are interested in, the Govt. follows it.

Media:

Media covers everything general public wants them to cover.

Ever heard of the card game ‘Bridge’? The people who follow this game are large but are sparsely located. Did you notice that leading English dailies have a Bridge column, almost daily or at least weekly?

One needs to make an impact by their interest levels. Media just covers the impact.

We are a growing economy. Growth in Sports will be natural consequence, if not tomorrow at least later. How soon it will happen, will depend entirely on us. Media, Corporate Houses, Government are mostly driven by popular perception. When we, as individuals, take interest in various sports around us and nurture it over a generation, then the above mentioned entities will just follow.

The Govt. did its bit in honoring Major Dhyanchand, by naming today’s day as ‘Sports Day’ in India. It’s time we do our bit, take the mantle in our hands and provide peace to the soul of Dhyan chand.