Following Olympics in India: Where talent doesn’t often get to meet opportunity!
Now that the Olympics is over, Let’s talk! Neeraj Chopra winning the Gold Medal was certainly the standout moment for Indians and his win was celebrated all over India. On other side, the shooting team were criticised for their failure to even reach finals where we reached finals in just two tournaments. When we get a chance to criticise, do we self-reflect? Healthy criticism is always welcome, and I am sure authorities will work a way to improve the performance but do we as citizens of this country get to criticise these amazing athletes? Are we a sporting nation? Have we actively engaged our children actively in sports to create enough talent pool?
Then comes the question of active engagement in the grassroots. Do we have National sports policy? The Answer is no! Do we have a sports curriculum integrated into school curriculum to encourage playing sports? The Answer is no! Still, every 4 years we judge our players based on the medal and colour of our medals. Parents are often hesitant in sending players to play because ‘the playing time will interfere with time to study’. Make no mistake, all the medals we have received and players who have represented India in Olympics have done so in their merit and hard work along with the support from the Government and various organisations like Olympic Gold Quest, Go Sports Foundation, JSW Foundation etc. They have sacrificed a lot over the years and if we have to be a sporting nation, we need to change our mindset and approach towards sports.
Imagine a 13-year old young girl not allowed to play sport because her parents or community doesn’t allow her.?Imagine a 10-year old girl who wants to make new friends but is not allowed to play sport because of lack of access and security. As Jacob Schouenborg(Secretary General-ISCA) mentions ‘What if inactivity was not a “slow” problem that we had to tackle over a long period of time? What if it came overnight, like a virus, and was looked upon for all the negative consequences it has, such as killing 5 million people every year?’
Playing grassroots sport and having access to more active spaces can increase level of physical activity which in turn can lead to other social, economic and development goals. Grassroots sport is defined as a “physical leisure activity, organised and non-organised, practised regularly at non-professional level for health, educational or social purposes”.
When shutdowns were announced due to COVID 19, IOC President Thomas Bach said “This is why I am calling on all the national governments to include sport in their economic recovery programmes, because sport can help the economic recovery. But it is also very important for the prevention of future health crises; that is why it is important that you are all playing sport.”
Globally, WHO estimates that 1 in 4 adults is not active enough and more than 80% of the world's adolescent population is insufficiently physically active. As set out in the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity. the global goal set is of increasing physical activity by 15%.
What are the challenges a young person who wants to make a career in sport faces while growing up?
Lack of Pathways for Athletes
There is a focus on Life Beyond Sport where many athletes end up on streets and unable to cope up beyond sports. A lot of them are lucky to get government jobs but many have fewer choices. The skills the sportsperson learn throughout the rigorous years of training and dedication, can be applied equally in the comparable 'performance environment' of business. After all, what is a job interview, doing a presentation is just another type of 'performance situation'. The pursuit of excellence has been something synonymous with players playing any sport The experience of planning, adjusting, succeeding - and failing - are all part of journey of a sportsperson which includes preparing for change, understanding the pitfalls and finding openings.
The transferable skills of training, working hard and striving to reach the top of the game are highly desirable in the workplace environment. Skills associated with sports professionals include discipline, teamwork, leadership, motivation, decision-making, performing under pressure, ambition, goal-orientation and resilience.
The Sportsperson who focus exclusively on their sport can become role restricted and be more at risk of finding it difficult to think beyond sports. The experience of planning, adjusting, succeeding - and failing - are all part of journey of a sportsperson which includes preparing for change, understanding the pitfalls and finding openings. Individuals playing sports has unique skills which needs to be unlocked and can be transitioned to make them employment ready. We want to leverage existing skills and provide additional skills to make our participants employable which includes how to Sell & use Athletic Experience in College/workplace, Professional development including self-awareness of them as leaders and build capacity in form of tools, skills, and knowledge to use experiences in sports in College/Workplace environment use and leverage their playing experience along with skills learned in sports to become better leaders and prepare them for life beyond sports.
Administrative issues in Sports Associations
The National Integrity of Sport Unit (NISU) defines integrity as:
In India, Sports associations are associated with lack of monitoring and accountability. The administrators run associations is a huge problem for India. There is no limit to number of terms served by authorities and there is complete lack of monitoring and accountability on their own performances. It is high time associations run professionally and if they do not meet their targets, they should be accountable for it. Funding should be accounted for and proper monitoring processes should be in place so that authorities don’t serve beyond their term.
Its important to place structure and processes in place to improve integrity in sports organisations specially national associations and sports associations. Good governance model is a majorly missing which should have been the fundamental aspect of any organisation which includes transparent and democratic decision-making processes, financial reporting and auditing as per international standards, and publication of financial reports and ethics and compliance rules. (As per IOC).
National Sports policy would address this issue but its important that organisations adhere to guidelines which is a major tipping point for lack of accountability and monitoring of organisations.
Grassroot scouting and lack of trained Indian coaches
The idea of introducing sports in schools is not just to hunt for talent but also what sports can teach young people at that age. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “We can’t leave the villages behind while the cities move forward,”
It is said that a team is as strong as its weakest member and India lives in the villages. Until the supposed weaker sections of our great country are properly empowered it is better to not think of being one of the major superpowers of the world as such thoughts may never fully materialize. Most of our efforts to develop sports have so far been confined to urban areas only, and the rural areas have in the process, have been neglected. Those living in remote areas are, till date, unable to get access to a qualified coach who can not only initially expose to multiple sports and the development of the core capabilities as the basis for their individual choices and pathways. Hence the number of Athletes coming from vulnerable background to mainstream sports are quite low. It is not about only giving them free kits and tracksuits, they require proper coaching and access to a qualified coach.
The lack of quality coaches has been one of the reasons why India has not been able to unearth talent. Plenty of sportsmen possess natural talent, but it is the way that ability is harnessed by a coach that can turn them from promising teen to an accomplished professional who can perform in International competition.
The TOPS scheme is a great scheme but is targeted only towards elite athletes. All over the world athletes are identified and nurtured from a very young age. It is important to create a network which could find talent in rural areas, opening up different sports to thousands who wouldn’t normally get the chance to harness their talent. Currently, there is a huge gap in level of coaching which a child receives in rural areas. Access to proper coaching is a huge challenge and hence few talent come to recognition.
Pullela Gopichand, A legendary coach who coached many top Badminton players like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap etc raised concern about lack of quality coaches at a Youth Conclave’, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry Young Indians.
Gopichand said. “Unless you have great coaches, you cannot have great pupils or students coming in. At the moment, our challenge is that coaching is not looked at the way it should be looked at. The best minds don’t get into coaching,”
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The young kids playing in rural areas do not have access to proper coaching. Plenty of sportsmen possess natural talent, but it is the way that ability is harnessed by a coach that can turn them from promising teen to accomplished professional and, potentially, player of global renown.
Important to separate Sport for Development from Sport for excellence
It is important to separate Sport for Development from Sport for Excellence. Sport for Development is where we use sports as a tool for development whereas Sport for excellence is supporting elite high performance athletes. Government’s implementation of revamped Khelo India programme would impact the entire sports ecosystem, including infrastructure, community sports, talent identification, coaching for excellence, competition structure, and sports economy.
The basis of this programme is to create more competitions which include Khelo India School Games and Khelo India College Games where the best will come here to play. Out of these, they would select 1,000 athletes and support them with resources equivalent to Rs 5 lakh per year for eight years. And every year, they keep adding 1,000 athletes. This will help in creating amazing bench strength in this country across multiple sports. And not just talent but as part of Khelo India, we will also identify areas and sporting institutions, which will not be restricted only to government institutes.
A Multi-Sport Approach would help young people to learn a ton of movement skills, which can be transferred to a variety of sports. Variety in the physical demands of sport training is often a good thing because it prevents overtraining – which can hurt performance – and it lessens degrees of physical and psychological exhaustion. it is important to understand anthropometric, physical and motor qualities of a child with the underlying aim of allowing them to enjoy sport and ensuring that fewer of them drop out later in life. According to Pullela Gopichand, “There is no fixed finite path. The principles are important. I played all kinds of sports in my village other than badminton. It is important that young children play multiple sports at a young age and adhere to the principles of long-term athletic development.”
?Importance of sports development intervention
Sports is essential for human development. It is just not recreational. It promotes good health, social interaction, and healthy competition. A sporting environment mirrors a professional setting -one has to achieve goals, work with teams and demonstrate positive behaviour. General sport inculcates discipline, diligence and responsibility while team sports in particular develop social and strategic skills such as communication, leadership, planning and problem solving. Interacting with coaches and referees enhances their ability to successfully evaluate situations and negotiate effectively.
Even if they don’t become a professional sportsperson, they will become a better human being.?They will thrive in adversity like all our Athletes!
Lack of Infrastructure
In India, Gym is the only one solution for people to have access to fitness and equipment but can everyone regardless of social economic background access it? No!?Though there are some parks in Bangalore with an open gym equipment. The important question we are looking to address is how do you democratise and de-classify access to fitness? The whole idea is to provide access to everyone irrespective of their social economic background.?The urban spaces are hardly accessible to everyone. India’s urban population is increasing at an alarming late and the spaces are shrinking. Girls don’t have equal access as of boys and women don’t find it safe at parks. Space is just an excuse and public investment is required to create more inclusive spaces. ?The onus is on the local bodies/state governments to create the spaces. In India, Smart City is the buzz word but in Smart city planning: where does sport and activities ever figure? Smart city should be an active city. An active city is one which has its citizen live an active life. Citizens in these cities have multiple options like cycling, playing grassroot sports, open gyms and parks where they can get active. Accessibility is key where every citizen irrespective of social economic background gets access to lead an active life.
The evidence and rationale can be find in details in WHO GUIDELINES ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SEDENTARY BEHAVIOUR
The guidelines note that four to five million deaths per year could be averted if the global population was more physically active, and recommend at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week for adults, and an average of 60 minutes of moderate aerobic physical activity per day for children and adolescents. In order to create a sporting nation, Every move counts!
References
[1] https://isca-web.org/english/news/whatifinactivitywasanewvirusaskingthedifficultquestionsonsocietalpriorities
?[3] https://www.who.int/news/item/16-05-2020-who-and-international-olympic-committee-team-up-to-improve-health-through-sport
?[6] https://www.olympic.org/news/every-move-counts-ioc-welcomes-new-who-guidelines-highlighting-the-importance-of-physical-activity
(7) https://www.playbytherules.net.au/got-an-issue/integrity-in-sport/what-is-it
(8) https://olympics.com/ioc/integrity/universal-principles-for-integrity
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Specialist in Sports business, International Trade Specialist & building communities for brands.
3 年I agree 100% What I see about Indian sports in simple words is ‘trying to construct an apartment and focusing directly on top floors without taking importance of basic amenities such as water, electricity, safety measures’