How can we encourage India's youth to achieve excellence in sports?

Question

In sports, character, value, physical and mental strength are all challenged in a short span of time. Sports can tell us a lot about ourselves as individuals and as a society. Yet, apart from a fanatic obsession with Cricket, we have very little to show for our passion in sports. While there is certainly better infrastructure available today, sport is not a popular part of Indian culture. Instead of joining sports teams or athletic games, many children are spending countless hours in front of TV screens and video games.
Since its Independence, India has won only 4 individual Olympic medals (K.D. Jhadav for Wrestling, K. Malleshwari for weightlifting, R. Rathore for shooting and yours truly for tennis). We won a hockey gold way back in 1980! Currently we are ranked a lowly 157 in world football. Our excellence in swimming is limited to the SAF Games.
Is something missing in our strength as a nation? How do we address this issue?

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Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

This issue is required to be dealt with at various stages.

Yes, India’s youth need lot of encouragement to achieve excellence in sports, firstly from the parents, secondly from the educational institutions, thirdly from the sponsor and the last but not the least from the provincial and the central Governments.

Roll of Parents: Now-a-days, parents are very much concerned with their children’s progress reports than any thing. They only want to see distinction marks in all the subjects in the progress reports of their children. They want to see their children as Engineers, Doctors, Scientists or administrators when they grow up. Their ultimate goal is to see their children earning Dollars in USA or Lakhs of Rupees in MNCs in India. The parents actually discourage their children from participating in games and sports thinking that it will hamper their studies and ultimately affect their career prospects. To a certain extent, their concern is justified because we see many a ex-sportsman who earned fame and medals for the country are in a poor condition struggling for their livelihood. The parents do not want to see their children in that condition. If at all some parents are interested, they are not in a position to spend for the education as well as sports simultaneously for their children. Here comes the roll of sponsor. Even when some parents venture to encourage their children in sports and games they are not confidant that the talent in their children is recognized by the concerned authorities and they get their due representation in state level, National level and International level events due the obvious reasons of favouritism, influence, politics so on so forth.

Here, everybody is forgetting one factor. Without sports and games we cannot produce healthy youth because the sports and games are useful for the healthy growth and development of body and mind. In a way, we are sacrificing the health of our children by not exposing them to sports and games. The sports and games help in improving blood circulation, muscle building and sharpen the brain. Yes, for a healthy brain, a healthy body is required. Lack of sporting activity in school and college days is one of the important reasons why the youth in their thirties itself are becoming susceptible to so many circulatory and heart problems in our country. So, is it not necessary that the parent’s attitudes should change?

Educational Institutions: How many of our present day educational institutions are having play grounds attached to them? In our childhood days our progress reports or the records given at the end of the academic year used to contain grades of our talent and proficiency in sports and games along with the marks obtained in subjects. Right from the pull-ups, 100mtr. Dash, long-jump, high-jump and other sports activities. Football and Hokey were very famous along with Baseball, Volley-ball, Basket-ball, Badminton and even Tennicoit. Students up to the college level used to play games in the evening and then only they return home. That scene is not to be seen today. The Sports Day used to be celebrated before the School or College Day. These things are gradually disappearing from the schools. Now the school children are over burdened with home work so that they have to run home to finish the home work. Where do they find time to play? In the colleges there is stiff competition to score not less than nineties and then to prepare for the entrance examinations for professional courses. How to change this situation? The school curriculum should be changed to make sports and games compulsory.

Roll of the Sponsors: These days there has been lot of talent search to pick up bright students suitable for jobs right from the colleges by several MNCs as well as Indian Companies. Who comes in search of talent in sports? Yes, the sponsors make a queue when some one becomes popular in some sport or the other. The major factor blocking the talent in other sports in our country is the game of Cricket. All the print media and Television Channels promote cricket only. They conduct programmes lasting for hours with the cricketers and the expert commentators. No need to say about day long live telecasts of the cricket matches and the waste of time to many a people. The BCCI earns thousands of crores of rupees because the people are so addicted to the game of cricket even though our cricket team disappoints the people so badly with their performance by losing the matches which any other team in the world could have won easily. Our people are satisfied with occasional wins by our cricket team. People are not behind any other game except cricket and same case with the sponsors. There is very less money in other games and sports in our country. If the huge money earned by the Cricket Board is partially spared for the promotion of other sports no other sponsor is needed. A country with 100 Billion people with a few individual medals in Olympics over a period of 60 years of independence. What a pity! Therefore, the companies apart from running after cricket celebrities should come forward to pick up young talent in other sports, adopt them, extend necessary facilities to the young talent so that they could win medals for the country in the international events and bring pride for the country and for them. The Govt. may give some exemptions to the companies in IT etc., for this purpose.

Roll of the Government: Best facilities are required for producing a best sportsman. The Govt. should come forward to build good avenues for the development of sports and games in our country. The funds allotted to the sports ministry in various States and the Union Government is always megre.The Governments do not feel it necessary or important to provide adequate funds for sports. Even the funds allotted are seldom spent properly. The Sports Authorities in many states are mere ornamental organizations. They should be filled with people who have adequate knowledge of sports and interest to promote sports. Even there are some active persons, what can they do with megre funds?

So, this is the situation in our country which requires reforms at all the above levels so that the Indian youth can be encouraged to achieve excellence in sports. Is it possible in the present situation? Yes, we must be optimistic we are witnessing fast changes in each and every field in our country towards the betterment and why it should not hold good in case of sports also? May our youth achieve par excellence in sports in the days to come.

Source(s):

Entirely own.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Sagarbabu's answer delves into the crucial elements that impact India's transformation into a sporting powerhouse- Corporate Sponsorship, Sports Infrastructure, Role of Media, Monetary Benefits, Socio-economic factors, Sports Academies & Authorities. It deserves to be the best answer.

Answer 2

the government should give more awards scholarships and should encourage many institutions and schools to make sports to be a important subject along with the general studies

Answer 3

Sponsor, nourish, encourage, value, & respect it whole heartedly, comprehensively, and take care to insulate it from extraneous 'considerations' !
We have a very very rich cultural tradition and heritage to look up to whenever confronted with a question "how to".. (remember the best of softwares now carry the best of 'help' menus, and I use this computer technology as an example, just because it appeals more easily... like they say " the shortest route to a child's heart is through its stomach !").
Well, we have very clear time-tested definitions about what constitutes an all-round growth of a nation..... We (Indians) had in ancient days, perhaps given the phrase "prosperity" while talking about an ideal nation, country, kingdom or whatever.
This prosperity was in ancient times measured in terms of excellence in Fine Arts. Only when material wants are fairly met, and skills at peak, the nations can even 'think' of excelling in other skills unique to only 'HUMANS' !
Well, it is up to the citizens to take up this task of excellence in these skills, especially sports -- because it is excellence in sports that would bring a lasting strong motivating factor to hasten the process of growth in other areas too !
Sir J.N.TATA , the adorable great personality has shown us the way by LIVING it... When just a kid, I heard of the story, where he motivated the famous Pehlwan to win a name for our country by sponsoring and funding him for a wrestling contest , somewhere in England ....
We need Indians who are 'somebody' and who care about upholding the country's name !

Answer 4

1.First and foremost its very imporatnt to promote other sports at school level other than cricket.
2.Youngsters should be shown the right direction ...i..e, if they gonna pick the sport at which they are good then they should have some kind of confidence in the system or concerned sports authority that they will not bcome a victim of politics,influence and their careers get ruined.
3.Peple who have made it Big in a younger age like Sania Mirza can be a good testimony for the next generation ...so obviously getting such people to motivate the next generation helps..Also theree must be many talented peoeple waiitng for sponsorship if that could be done in a Proper manner that would be great.
4.I agree there is infrastructure but how many talented youth unaware of the institues and facilitlies...time to show it off Big

Nothing will change on the OUTside unless there is a change in the inside ...SO its more important to change the mindset of talented youth that they can make it Big in sports field TOO

Answer 5

Same as we did to Sania & Sachin.
Create hype.

Answer 6

Hi Paes,

I guess this question is more apt to be answered by you considering what you have achieved. How did you stay encouraged and achieve what you did, despite the policy makers. We would like to hear it from you.
To my two cents worth, the best way is to make it lucrative for the youth to pursue a career in sports, just like how everyone is making a beeline to pursue a career in cricket. (uugghhh!!!). Taking you as an example, I feel to achieve factors other than money is critical too. I remember your Davis cup wins - especially your glance towards the tricolor and you bang the opponents into submission. So patriotic feeling was an inspiration for you (money at best can be a temporary motivation), something is to be done by the policy makers to inspire the youth to perform and achieve.

Answer 7

By senior players like you retiring and giving chance to younger players. Your experience can be utilised for training purposes.

Answer 8

The only way is to make sports compulsory at school and marks should be given as for other subjects. This should be one criteria for getting admission in colleges. Secondly, more opportunities at national level for students who excel in sports. Less of politics and more of infrastructure for sports. Thirdly, recognized sportsmen should STOP endorsing products. Once Sania became famous she came in advts. and subsequently her rankings dropped.

Answer 9

we should try to inhibit the right spirit which really lacks in our team and the amenities should be fully utilized.
more and more sponsorerers should promote the game.

Source(s):

me

Answer 10

The government should encourage more people to enter the sports fever. They should also organise more events and give more prizes and trophies.

Answer 11

Try to developing narrowed thinking

Answer 12

The better question would be how do we change the present scenario to encourage youth to participate in sports ?In India cricket and tennis are only sports where professionals are well recognized and earn considerable amount of money where as other sports are totally neglected ,if this was not enough to add to their woes Indian system discourages any kind of serious participation in sports and considers it as waste of time .In India a student is always expected to fare well in his studies and take sports as a extra curricular activity ,even if a person is good at his chosen sports he will not be able to support himself financially and have to find some other source of income .Due to lack of financial support it is not possible for Indian youth to take sports as their profession. i have met number of sports personalities who are at state level and are in most pathetic situation for being loyal to their sports .

Source(s):

FROM MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE . i have seen collector of my city throwing out a state level sports person,there is no dignity for them no support.that person was there to request them to finance him so that he can take part in common wealth games .If u haven't got the answer you will never get it ,mr leander u have lots of money why don't u finance some of them .

Answer 13

You are right.This is one of the problems India is facing.I also have thought of this problem.
India is the second most popullated country in the world.Still we are very behind in sports.The most populated China is taking every asvantage of their human resourses.they are among the top most medel receiving nation in olympics.
India also could have been like that.but due to some reasons we are lagging behind.I say that to a great extent this is due to politics.the national team selectors are not really looking for talents they want to help some one they know.they want some one they know in the team.
One another thing is that money.people with money only can go to some games.Tennis,golf,snooker,shooting etc are some of such games.Only people who can afford that money go to that fields.to buy a golf ball one need to spend a large sum,to join a golf course one need to give atleast Rs 50,000.A common man cannot afford it.the above said games are games of the elite,rich people.so many talented persons cannot go for such games as most of the people in India are not very rich.
One another thing is support from people.support from people is one of the very important thing for excellence.people support those sports which India is excelled.This is the reason why all the indians support cricket rather than any sports.India has a better stand in cricket than any other sports.the people like their country to win.so people will support such games India can be a star.so a better choice is cricket.this thing is assured by the fact that when sania mirza started to win some games a lot of people began noticing tennis.then only some men started to know your name too(its a fact).
actually a great problem is that we are lacking funds.people are not even ready to sponsor for the sportsmen.due to the lack of funds we have very bad infrastructure we have a very few good stadiums in India,even for cricket.
to encorage the youth we will have to first of all make enough funds.then we must make them understand the scopes of turning to sports.we must give more perks to the spots men who excells.more people must be rady to sponsor some sportsperson.for this sportsmen like you must help.your interfence can help many youth lacking funds to get enough funds.
India now too has a lot of good sportstars.lets hope that more youngsters come to the sports field and help to raise the name of India.Let's hope for the best...........

Answer 14

Infuse Passion ...and also reward them substantially by corporate participation...we must vouch for 100% tax benefit for such contribution from corporates...

Answer 15

Educate the parents and teachers that the only way to make money is not only studying for a proffessional course like medicine and engineering- after schooling but even taking to sports can bring in money. Also the government should play a role in promoting sports as a career much more than it does do now.

Answer 16

Sports is not taken as a courrier in India because here we do not get as much as facilities as we might get in western countries.Girls are always given less prize money than boys.I think once we overcome these shortcomings we will definately be able to develope new sportsmen with various talents.

Answer 17

Sports be made a compulsory subject in curricula of high school education. At present, cricket mania is ruling the sports arena. Other sports are taking backseat when compared to cricket. So Govt. should encourage all types of sports by giving scholarships and setting up training centres. Sports competitions should be conducted for every three months. Those who comes with the flying colours from the sports competitions should be sponsored to National Games. Those who are winners of National Games be sponsored to international games. Thus the youth will bring laurels to our country. Finally politics and corruption should be detached from sports arena. Genuine talent in sports should be encouraged from the scratch i.e., at the level of primary school.

Answer 18

Leander this is a very good question.The reason why Sports is not a popular culture of Indian society is the fact that life and career of a sports person is unpredictable.

Lack of professionalism in the not so recognized sports like swimming,boxing,atheletics,shooting etc doesnt force encouragement in young peoples minds.More so there is no proper mechanism to identify talents in these areas.If one wants to make a career in these areas,there is so much uncertainty and lack of proper information.

In todays competitive world ordinary Indian citizen cannot risk his son/daughter's future in sports activity because if he/she cannot perform then their future comes to a halt.Study is considered to be the best available alternative.......at least one can survive with a decent job even though he/she may not be the topper.

In sports the scenario is different.The career span is short and full of risk.If you dont succeed,if you are not a topper is your area your whole future may be in problem.

This eventually leads to less awareness amongst parents to inculcate passion for sports in their kids.Also this leads to non encouragement of inborn talent in sports in young kid.Very few parents in India want to appreciate the talent of any sports in kids and nurture it so that the kid can take it up as a career.

The solution is simple.More and more talent aquisition camps to be opened.More public awareness should be created to encourage kids into sports.Funding should be provided to nurture needy talents.

All of these should be done through a system and is not an overnight process.But blue prints should be drawn now,finance to be sourced and the implementation for talent aquisition and public campaign should begin.We may expect result in next 10 years then.

Answer 19

To answer your question, I am giving a point wise reply:
1. Conduct periodic tournaments at the school level in all the sports and games(the Government should allot funds for these sports meets)
2. Unearth talents from each discipline(you cannot make everybody a champion)
3) Get such of those selected to commit to developing their talent.
4. Provide coaching and guidance for them to develop their talent and skills.
5. Give them the required exposure by sponsorship at each stage i.e. school/college level, district level, state level and national level.
6. Monitor their committment at each level.
7. Provide counselling if they tend to wean off
8. While winning should be the focus always, it is not that you win every time They should be taught to take defeat also in their stride, by competing fiercely, always with a spirit of sportsmanship
9. It is very important to monitor the health of the sports person and educate the importance of eating right and maintain their fittness.
10. All kinds of interference like politics,back door dealings to get selected should be totally done away with.
11. The education of the sports persons must also be looked after because while they take part in tournaments and competitions, they have to be away from their studies. This is a major impediment for people to take up sports as a career in a big way.
12. Last but not least, the future of the sports persons must be secured because when they are past their prime having taken part in tournaments they may not be eligible to a job to fall back upon. This assurance has to be given to them in the early stages of their sporting career.
13. All agencies concerned(schools,colleges,Corporate bodies, Government agencies) should lend their support in developing sports and games in a big way.
14. Like any other profession, sports and games should be recognised as a profession and suitable insurance cover should be available at their disposal.
15. The infrastructure development should also be taken up in a big. The conducting of the National Games in different cities each time is a step in the right direction. The infrastructure should be of international standards and these should be maintained regularly for these activities only and should not be utilised for meetings, gatherings other than for what they are meant.
16. Seasoned sportsperson like you can feed back to budding youngesters about your experience and give tips on how to compete.
17. It is also necessary that we get renowned sports persons from all over the world in different disciplines to compete in India.Throwing the National Football League to international participation,the introduction of the Premier Hockey League bringing more ATP & WTA tournaments are in the right directions. Such events in other events with internationa participation is required at frequent intervals.

Answer 20

on giving good advises

Answer 21

Any Indians play any sports Indians should follow the following method of approach/characters they should have:--

1. Must have thorough basic knowledge;
2. A sportsman/women should have good stamina;
3. A good body; (physique)
4. Honesty;
5. Sincerity;
6. 100% involvement with the game;
7. Not 100% selfishness or money minded;
8. The best technique;
9. Ready to face challenges
10. Aim to win attitude
11. mental preparedness;
12. Maintain Good health
12. A good coach
13. A proper diet - Balanced diet;
14. A good routine exercise to keep the sportmen/women to keep fit for the sports and games
15. There are other things which matters a lot to win the game.

Source(s):

K G V DOSS
kgvdoss

Answer 22

I guess this question is more apt to be answered by you considering what you have achieved
Sponsor, nourish, encourage, value, & respect it whole heartedly, comprehensively, and take care to insulate it from extraneous 'considerations'
Youngsters should be shown the right direction ...i..e, if they gonna pick the sport at which they are good then they should have some kind of confidence in the system or concerned sports authority that they will not bcome a victim of politics,influence and their careers get ruined.
3.Peple who have made it Big in a younger age like Sania Mirza can be a good testimony for the next generation ...so obviously getting such people to motivate the next generation helps..Also theree must be many talented peoeple waiitng for sponsorship if that could be done in a Proper manner that would be great.
4.I agree there is infrastructure but how many talented youth unaware of the institues and facilitlies...time to show
the government should give more awards scholarships and should encourage many institutions and schools to make sports to be a important subject along with the general studies

Answer 23

Following points should be implemented to achieve excellence in sports at grass root level :

1.Encourage sports in schools.Sports/Physical Education should be made mandatory subject in schools depending upon students physical fitness ( ......Obviously under the supervision of proper Coach )

2.Sports authority of India has to really come forward and join hands with MLAs of different constituencies to encourage inter colony sports events so that they can tap the hidden talent.

3.Corporates today want to create brand loyalty and brand awareness.Their participation will ensure that they can reach masses and can make a sports event look really big. like Standard Chartered Marathon race

4.Sportsmen like Leander Paes to run Coaching Institutes in various parts of India where they can identify and groom hidden talent (pls do consider economic stand of the child so that he can afford coaching fee)

5.Collective Effort - All the above points with good infrastructure and appropriate motivational rewards to the sportsmen can be administered by Sports Care Body.

Sports Care Body (SCB) to have various representatives as mentioned below :
i)Sports legend like Sachin Tendulkar,Leander Paes ,R Rathore etc.
ii)Representatives from Sports Goods Manufacturing companies like Nike,Reebok,adidas etc.
iii)Strong Media Participation from companies like ESPN Star Sports,Ten Sports etc.

You can add on this list depending upon your experience.

Self, a Guy who enjoys fearless sportsmanspirit as a way of life.

Rgd
Paras Kochhar

Source(s):

GOD

Answer 24

We should motivate our peers i.e., the youth to participate in other sports also this will improve our level of sports

Answer 25

Encouragement should start from the school level itself. I've seen many schools denying children entry to the team just because their old team is doing well.

Also how many parents give precedence to sports other than their children getting good marks? A child would always get a "you can always play next time" remark if he plays a little longer than the 1 hr he gets everyday.

Also how many companies employ atheletes on a full time basis and still pay them good salaries, besides providing them with the training.. etc? besides a few govt. public sector companies, no one.

1 - The mindset of the people should change. Government should allocate more funds to sports in their budget.
2 - Companies should step forward and encourage sportspersons to excel in thie field. They have the money to sponsor their training.
3 - Government should make such training tax free to enable companies to come forward.
4 - More stadiums should be built which are open to the public to use for training.

Answer 26

Sir,

Today, they say that India is shining or that India is poised but is it really?

Although we might be rising as an economic or democratic power but it is time that we realize that we are failing in sports.

Preaching sports isn't enough. Knute Rockne correctly said, “One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching it.”

I feel that most of the youth (either talented or not talented) doesn't consider sports as a career because there aren't enough opportunities available!

I am sure that more than 90% of the people didn't even know who
K.D. Jhadav was until they looked at this question and read you summary.

Let me ask you?

If you have noticed any improvement in the sport you love?
Or
Have the promises made by the sports ministry been fulfilled?

The answer remains a dubious NO

the recent killing of the young TT player or things like that only show that to excel in India in a field like sports is like finding a needle in a pile of straw, search hard but still lose!

In a land where the major percent of the population still lives in poverty the children are sent to IAS examinations and jobs with security as the parents can't risk their child's career.

Also, most of the sports are too expensive for the common man.

We can attract the younger generation by introducing sports as a hobby and not a competition, by fulfilling some of the promises and by increasing the no. of competitions to nurture the talent of the young we can excel in all round sports.


By giving this topic some more light and acting as guides to the future we can ensure that the youth of today will prove the past wrong.

Answer 27

Indian youth are topping the world in many fields. Some schools do not have playgrounds but that does not mean that sports should not be played. The schools should help the youth by conducting physical activities (sports) as well as competitions. Some schools do not encourage sports as much as they encourage other co-curricular activities. Sports and other co-curricular activities should be given equal importance. Only cricket is not important, achieving an all-round development in all sports is important. The youth should give importance to physical activities rather than TV, video games etc.

Answer 28

There must be accountability in the selection process. It is essential that talent is identified at a young age, nutured and the candidate is to be given the best facilities in training and monetary benefits to continue their interest. The panel of selection must be only those who have excelled in their sport and a constant rewiew must be done on a regular basis on those selected for furher training. Educational institutions must encourage sports and if a student has the talent then they must have another medium where they could recommend the student for further progress. With the right infrastructure, determination and the positive attitude we can make a beginning. It is too late to dither the time is now.

Answer 29

Choose best talents without any recommendations
Train them with best facilities
Give enough remunaration
Build lot of stadiums in many places
Encourage youths to use the facility in their free time
Center and State should encourage lot of tournaments with good prize money

Answer 30

First of all, the primary and middle school curriculum itself should include a lot os sports. Now a days, the emphasis is on study language and science. Physical education is added as a minor defect in the curriculum. Many of the schools do not even have a sports ground!!!!!. There is also no money for providing sports gear.
By the time the child comes to high school, his or her talent should get identified and located by talent hunters (otherwise known as agents) and offered sponsership through corporates and other organizations. We cannot depend on the government as it creeps of currupction.
Hockey is supposed to be our national game. How many astro turf fields are available even for our best to practice in?
All sports organizations should be managed by earstwhile eminent sportsmen and not politicians or policemen. The organizations can appoint professional managers to manage the events, associations and funds.

Answer 31

give in school more games period.and we have to bring the talent of the student who are really good.