Sports and society: The need for sports education in India

The sporting contingent in India

Sport is an integral part of human evolution and it is required for the development of human society. Sports generate interest and opinion among everyone and from every section of society. They nurture sportsmanship, which in turn inculcates the qualities of fairness, self-discipline, courage and perseverance. Sportsmanship teaches how to work in a team and help fellow teammates to achieve the group or individual goals. Most importantly, it teaches us to respect teammates, opponents and rules of the conduct.

Why sports culture should be highlighted

Some of the research also suggests that being involved in sports may raise the employability level of young people by developing specific ‘core’ and ‘soft’ skills. In India, we are nowhere near major sporting nations like Germany, USA or Australia in the sporting arena, but the growth and development over the last 5-7 years is quite promising.

Sports companies catering to grassroot coaching and sponsorships are mushrooming everywhere. One important aspect which needs due attention, specially by coaching companies who are working with young children, is to educate parents and other stakeholders about sports and its benefits. Nowadays there is self-realization among parents that there is considerable lack of physical activities for their children, so their core objective is to address that aspect when they are enrolling their children to any training centre.

As per studies by different government agencies currently, approximately only 0.06 per cent of the Indian population exercises on a regular basis; the average cardiac attack age in India is 25-30 years, and every third child is suffering from obesity. To make the situation even more alarming for the Indian society, it is highlighted by a recent government research that children are spending 7.2 hours studying (no physical activity) against only 39 minutes playing any sports in a day.

According to the estimate of the Planning Commission of India, by 2016 India will have approximately 510 million people in the age group of 15 to 35 years, making India the youngest population in world which is not healthy.

Sports education for sports development in India

The government has made sports and physical education mandatory in the curriculum but it lacks the required motivation and drive from the administrators. There can be many reason and factors for this, but one important reason which is very visible is the lack of sports understanding. That is where companies and coaches need to come in with structured Sports Education Programs for parents and other important stakeholders in respective schools and communities to make them understand about the different facets and benefits of sports as career. Such programs will help school and college administrators to understand and relate to the commitments required by any sportsperson to play at the professional level.

The second phase of Sport Education Development is to make corporates aware about soft skills, which a normal sportsperson inculcates during his/her playing days. Technical and productivity-related training can be arranged by the corporates to accommodate sportsperson on their rolls. Such Sports Education Programs designed for corporates will help them to understand sports in a holistic manner, and every new opportunity created in the corporate sector will give encouragement to new generations to take sports more seriously and professionally.

Sports pathway in India

Sports education should start at the kindergarten level where children can be introduced to the concept of what is sports, then fun time with sports and then the various other aspects. The program needs to be audio-visual and needs to involve parents and teachers together.

Sports education is required more than ever as more people have started becoming aware of sports compared to the situation 10-15 years ago. Sports Education Programs need due attention of all stakeholders in sports.

Many people may think that sports is just a casual time-pass activity or a way to be fit, but in reality, sports is a way to live life.