The role of sport in nation building | More sports News

Not simply medal rely, the thought of a sporting nation ought to revolve round offering residents the chance to discover their bodily potential and turn out to be the most effective variations of themselves
By Pullela gopichand
As India embarks on its journey to turn out to be a worldwide superpower and one of many world’s prime three economies, we as a nation can’t afford to lag behind on the sporting entrance.
The thought of a sporting nation ought to revolve round offering residents the chance to discover their bodily potential and turn out to be the most effective variations of themselves.
As JRD Tata as soon as mentioned, “A nation can’t be developed by simply eradicating poverty. It turns into developed by giving alternatives for the gifted few to turn out to be the most effective on this planet.”
Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narender modi additionally said, “A nation, a group, or a race can’t develop if they don’t have satisfaction, and each sporting efficiency of ours provides a drop into the bucket of satisfaction — one thing a lot wanted for our nation’s development.”
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With these two visionary leaders as guiding lights, this doc goals to emphasise the necessity for each baby within the nation to have the precise and the chance to develop themselves bodily.
Now we have grown in numbers — each alphabetically and statistically — over the previous couple of years. Nevertheless, bodily, now we have regressed as a nation.
Our motion vocabulary has deteriorated to the purpose the place primary actions like squatting, crawling, strolling, operating, leaping, and diving have declined drastically. In a digital age the place bodily exercise has diminished, this regression has contributed to an increase in weight problems, diabetes, and heart-related points throughout the nation.
For a younger nation like ours, this isn’t only a thorn within the flesh — it may turn out to be a dagger to the center.

Worryingly, indicators of bodily degeneration are already seen. Research present that eight out of ten kids in city India have flat ft or knock knees. These points may manifest as continual decrease again ache within the years to return. If this development continues, many of those kids could also be unfit to affix the military or interact in bodily demanding professions.
The agricultural state of affairs isn’t a lot better; the numbers there are solely marginally improved.
If not addressed early, we might find yourself with a younger nation that’s bodily incapable of supporting its personal workforce and economic system.
Historically, our properties and day by day actions promoted foot well being and bodily improvement. In distinction, right now’s multi-storied buildings and clean, flat indoor environments don’t provide the identical advantages. Subsequently, structured bodily packages should be launched at a really younger age.
Faculties ought to present amenities like “Little Gyms” that includes uneven surfaces, gear for hanging, diving, and leaping — instilling a motion vocabulary that permits lifelong participation in any bodily exercise.
Unorganized sport, typically neglected, can play a large position in human improvement. It affords an natural platform to construct communication abilities, teamwork, management, and the flexibility to be taught by observing and doing — essential instruments for any particular person.
From ages six to 9, the main target must be on the ABCs of athletic coaching, fight coaching, swimming, and gymnastics.
Between ages 9 to 13, primarily based on the kid’s bodily aptitude, genetic testing, and curiosity, a curriculum for skilled sport must be launched.
By age 13, after three to 4 years of structured coaching, kids must be inspired to pursue a path — whether or not it’s teachers, sports activitiesartwork, or music — that aligns with their pursuits and offers long-term monetary safety.
Even when they select training over sport, bodily improvement should not be uncared for. Each baby must be inspired to turn out to be the most effective bodily model of themselves and interact in sport all through life.
Between ages 13 to 16, round 15–20% of youngsters can contemplate skilled sports activities as a profession, offered they present potential to signify India on the worldwide stage. These choices must be backed by knowledgeable coaches, sports activities science, and genetic testing.
At age 17, a second stage of filtering ought to happen. Solely 5% of this group ought to proceed in skilled sport, whereas 95% transition to different areas primarily based on curiosity and potential.
This group, having spent substantial time away from teachers, must be supported with a one-year bridge course to assist them catch up and easily reintegrate into tutorial or vocational fields.
We should additionally acknowledge that every sport has its personal developmental timeline. The perfect age for peak efficiency in capturing differs enormously from sports activities like badmintongymnastics, or desk tennis. Power-based and skill-based sports activities, in addition to late-maturing athletes, should all be supported by customized and scientific strategies to make sure we don’t lose gifted people earlier than they mature.
Athletes might exit their skilled journey at completely different ages, from 18 to 35, relying on their sport and efficiency stage.
Prime athletes are sometimes inept at dealing with life after sport. No matter their standing within the sport, athletes should be ready for the realities of life past their enjoying careers. Contemplating that almost all athletes have 50 to 60 years of life forward after retiring from sport, it’s unfair and short-sighted for the system to disregard the necessity for reskilling or educating our sportspersons.
There are quite a few examples of top-level athletes struggling after retirement — not simply as a result of monetary mismanagement, but in addition as a result of the worth, abilities, and societal standing they held throughout their profession are sometimes not leveraged to their full potential post-retirement. That is largely because of the lack of position fashions, structured steerage, and coaching for all times after sport.
With this understanding, it’s important to introduce post-sport training pathways, similar to lateral entry into diploma packages, vocational coaching, or specialised qualifications that allow athletes to transition into impactful roles in society. Social abilities, instructional inputs, structured pathways, and clearly outlined roles in life after sport should be seen as a nationwide precedence.
A skill-based backup plan should be in place to make sure athletes are ready for all times after sport—contributing meaningfully to the ecosystem as mentors, educators, position fashions, and entrepreneurs. This contains entry to training, jobs, skilling packages, and entrepreneurial alternatives as a part of their transition.
For India’s sporting ecosystem to be world-class, we should acknowledge that Olympic medals will not be the one measure of success.
Based on the Worldwide Olympic Committeecoaching one athlete to Olympic requirements prices over $10,000 per yr from a younger age, and because the athlete progresses, this will run into crores of rupees per medal.
Thus, we can’t view sport purely by the lens of medal counts. We should embrace the broader advantages of sport — particular person progress, preservation of indigenous video games, unorganized sports activities, and group constructing.
The true worth of sport goes far past medals. The day we start to understand its classes in time administration, teamwork, decision-making, self-discipline, management, and bodily and psychological well being, we can have carried out justice to enjoying sports activities, an integral and important a part of training and nation-building.
(The author is a former All England males’s singles winner and present chief nationwide coach of the India nationwide badminton staff.)