How to start a sports culture in India

In a country of over a billion people, we only have a handful of champions. Countries with lower levels of per capita income than India, like Kenya and Jamaica, have outperformed India in international sporting events.

Many neglected athletes quit sports. Most others don’t get their due recognition. The sports culture is very weak in India and sports as a career option is still frowned upon. Ours is a country where earning a livelihood from sports is unusual, and hence, the results are seen in our overall medal tallies.

Some hard facts
India has been participating in the Olympics since 1920, but has won only 28 medals so far. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, we sent 117 athletes in 15 sports and we brought back only 2 medals, one silver and one bronze. While the 2 medals in Olympics 2016 placed India in the 67th position at the medal tally, if we consider the number of medals against the total population of India, we rank last among all the medal-winning countries.*

Is there anything that we as concerned citizens in our country can do to change the situation? We suggest three possible ways for you to be more involved in the betterment of sports in our country.

1. Be more involved
Start visiting more local games and matches in your city. Check out the schedules and programmes of non-mainstream sports like Basketball, Table Tennis, Boxing, Archery etc. You can also go visit the local regional sports like Mallakhamb, Kabbadi etc. Buy tickets to watch these games live. Take an active interest in these sports, join their communities and get to know the other sports in your neighbourhoods.

2. Volunteer at the local NGOs
Identify sports NGOs in your neighbourhood and extend your support to them - and support doesn’t have to be monetary only. One can help spread awareness, leave old sport gear or even volunteer. Many of these NGOs are run by former athletes who encourage and nurture talent in children. Several have even produced athletes from the NGOs itself. Participation at the grassroots directly puts you in touch with the future sports talent of our country. Volunteer for a chance to hone such talents.

3. An effort to make sports a part of our culture
Encourage sports and sports related activities. Be it among your friends, your family, your workplace, your neighbourhood etc. Join, or even form independent sports clubs. When children show an interest in sports, do your best to hone their talents - or encourage them to play, and join them in the game.

Can we go back to nurturing sports in India?
Enough has been said about the failing standards of sports in our society, but not much is being done about it. If we want India to be put on the world map when it comes to stellar performance in sports, we have to take steps to move in that direction. Start working towards that change, before yet another Olympic goes by and we return home disappointed.

Do you think we as a society can affect a change in the way India perceives sports? Share your views with us on our Facebook and Twitter platforms.

Alarm Bajne Se Pehle Jaago Re!

Source:

*NZHerald, Sportskeeda