The Sports Parable_1

"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game."

                                                                  -- Michael Jordan

  Sport is an important and inseparable part of our lives. Every human likes at least some or the other sport. However, we are often misled so as to what it actually is and so tend to divert from it eventually. Even those who keep with it, only seldom realise its true nature. Telling people about it – moreover the children who are the foundation of future – and making them more aware is therefore very important.

Thus, we planned to organise the sports events for our juniors during the annual sports week. Ms. Vijayalaxmi informed Mr. Nair, the person in charge for the entire event, that we were willing to help them by organizing and managing the sub-events. We received a class wise list of various sports events from him and 

then we all sat together and divided the work amongst ourselves.  Here is how we divided it:

Group	Students in charge
Group 1 – Pre-primary/Primary	Himanshu & Shafqat
Group 2 – Grade 1 – 2	Rucha, Shradha  & Asmita
Group 3 – Grade 3 – 5	Kaustubh & Danish
Group 4 – Grade 6 – 7	Jaidev & Tanmay

I was the student in charge for all the events of pre-primary and primary school for all the three days i.e. 15, 16 and 17 January.  The total time of this CAS activity was estimated to be 5 hours –1.5 hours every day – but as it turned out, I worked for more than 3 hours today itself.

Children gathered for sports events.

Today was the first day. All the toddlers came to the basketball court, along with their teachers. The events for groups 1-3 were scheduled on basketball court because the athletics track and football ground were reserved for high school events. It was amazing to see those tiny faces squinting now and then due to the radiant sun, and yet smiling with unparalleled delirium. At the same time, I could also anticipate a time of endless commotion caused by their restless disposition and indomitable tongues.  Nevertheless, I was prepared for all that was to come. My previous experience (with my little buds) had taught me how to control these super-energetic little buddies.

I quickly asked Ms. Ancina (primary school coordinator and my activity supervisor) for a brief of today’s events and then helped her settle the kids in proper queues.

Our first major task was to, well; mark the entire area with chalk tracks. Since it was a basketball court there were no markings on it for athletic events. So I along with Shafqat, Rucha, Shradha and Asmita carefully drew lines all over the place, with an adequate precision, as soon as possible. I felt as if I were one of the Nazca people, drawing long lines on ground for some divine purpose!

Well, after the marking was done, we started with the events, first was the frog race.  The very name of it, reminded me of the days I used to participate in such events. Back in those days, I used to hate frog race because of its silly rule: jump like a frog all the way till the end. Not that I liked it now, but it was fun to see the kids do it. I now realise why the spectators laughed at us while we struggled to imitate the funny frog hops.

Since the distance for different races had to be varied we needed to constantly shift the victory ribbon.  

After the frog race, there were wild animal race and the one-legged race. It was great experience to organise them. The wild animal race was really good. The kids had to run to a tub with wild and domestic animal toys in it. They needed to identify, select and carry 3 wild animals to the finish line to win the race.  It was fun to watch them recollect the differences between the two and differentiate consequently. Each time the tubs had to be refilled with equal toys of domestic and wild animals. That was tedious but extremely insightful. I mean, after all these years of our schooling things like these have become so obvious to us, that we hardly realise that there ever was a need to learn them!  It is trifles to me today. But it was hard to convince myself that just like these kids, there was once a time when I too struggled to differentiate between them. Albeit, things haven’t changed much it seems. It was difficult to differentiate animals once; it is difficult to differentiate numbers now! No wonder differentiation is difficult!

Meanwhile, as I conversed with some of the kids I came to know that they had extensive amounts of competitive ego, envy and antipathies. I was aggrieved to know that. Parents and the society around a child knowingly or unknowingly put such things in a child’s brain, which eventually make him egoistic and uncooperative. In addition, the ever increasing affinity for victory makes him unkind and leads to inevitable disappointments. I believe that for the development of a healthy society kids at such young ages should be taught to live in harmony with each other and understand the interdependence of all beings. Thankfully, people are getting aware about this and so I could only see that attitude in some kids. Nevertheless it is still a major problem, especially in those born with a silver spoon.  Such children often carry the same attitude to their adolescence where they encounter many problems because of it.

This is also the misconception about sports I referred to initially. Most of us today see sports as a game where one wins and losses; an activity which is synonymous with competition. Some may criticize the above statement to say that ‘it is not about competition, but about participating.’ But that is even worse, who plays a game for no reason, just for the sake of participating? And if one does, then why should one? The definition of sports in the beginning of the paragraph, is what has become of sports over the time, not what it was originally.

A glance at the dictionary backs the notion that sport in its ‘OLD-FASHIONED’ sense was an activity of recreation, enjoyment and entertainment for oneself. Today, contrary to that, it has become a ruthless struggle between two competing teams (or individuals) who are made to play for the entertainment of people who pay to watch them collide. In other words, a sport today has become a commercial entity which functions to make money out of victory and defeat.  Unfortunately, although things are not the same at school level, children tend to carry the same attitude as they are influenced, if not involved. A little natural amount of competition is inevitable and is fine, but the commercialisation of sports has pumped unnecessary competition in to our minds. In effect it has spoiled actual fun of sports.

I think sport is something you do to relax yourselves after hours of sedentary work; something which gives exercise to your body and refreshes your mind. Playing and engaging in physical activity is important, there is no need of competition or very strict rules there! Just play to enjoy and you’ll feel the real beauty of sports. This is the philosophy I advocate and intend to propagate.  I told those kids how their competitors are but their friends and they should play for enjoying.  On saying that they gave up their grudges easily and that’s what was so sweet about these young beings!

Earlier today, I did not expect there would be so much to do. By the end of the day however, my perspiration was evidence of the efforts I had put in. I was very happy and so was everyone else.