“My son got first rank this year you know” Mrs. Carmen was wholeheartedly proud of her bookworm son.” What about your daughter. I heard she failed in Mathematics “. Her tone toward Mrs. Elizabeth was nothing less than sarcastic.
“Yeah, what to do. She had a taluk level competition which she could not skip before her Maths exam”. Elizabeth tried to support her daughter, Megan. She was very supportive of her daughter. Even when her husband Dr Dsouza opposed his daughter’s tennis ambitions, she stood by her side and helped her in whatever way she could.
In every Kitty party, the only gossip discussion which made headlines was about academics of their younger ones. Elizabeth’s daughter was a taluk junior tennis champion and promised a lot whereas the children of other ladies were all good in academics.
“Look Elizabeth, I know Megan is very good in tennis, but what is she going to do in future. We are in India my dear; there is no future for sports. Of course there are some examples like flash in the pan like Sania, Sneha.But there are a majority of girls who are more talented than Sania, but have not made it to the top and your kid is only a taluk level champ and in 7 th now, Remember all great sportspersons started very early.”
“But she is already in Taluk level, by next three years she willsurely get up to the state level or probably national level too”
“Bullshit Elizabeth, Ask her to concentrate on studies. That’s where the future lies”
Somehow the conversation made Elizabeth rethink her ambitions for her daughter. She came home and directly went to Megan” Megan, from tomorrow you are not going to tennis clinic. Only after you pass your final exams we will think about it. You know studies are equally important. You are not good at studies. You should be good in both”
“What Mummy? How can I concentrate on both? I have to sacrifice something right”
“Absolutely. You will sacrifice your Tennis kid”
“No. Never”
“Yes. You will .Only when you pass in your 10th board exams we will look into your tennis.Atleast you can tell you have passed SSLC, unlike Sachin Tendulkar.”
“Don’t talk about him. He has done something which no one will ever do “
The fight continued for another half an hour and finally Megan caved in. She agreed to take up tennis after her 10th exams. Three years passed and now Megan had turned into a beautiful girl who had completely lost her interest in Tennis and wanted to do a management masters from UK, for which her parents were ready to shell out any amount of money.
“What about Tennis honey”
“No future in Tennis mummy, you only said na. Now I can see my future very clearly”
“Look dear. Tennis has a future. You will be very famous and earn lot of money”
“When I wanted to play, you did not allow me and now that I don’t want you cant force me into it. I want to do my masters from UK.thats final”
Thus India lost out on another Sania. Don’t you think his story can be related to most of us especially guys who want to emulate Sachin and Girls who want to copy Sania? Well I say Yes. I personally know many people who had it in them to strike it big, but due to parental and peer pressure had to suppress it and change their field.
Well. Can’t blame parents alone here. They will never want their kids to venture into something where future is very uncertain. But is that the reason India, even with a population of over a billion, struggles to bring home one medal. Peer pressure is not a big hurdle which comes in the way of the child’s ambition, but it is an important one. When one comes to know that whatever happens there is support from ones near and dear ones, then I am sure there will do a world of good to ones confidence. But if parents behave like how Elizabeth aunty behaved then, what Megan did is absolutely justified. There are also some good for nothing friends who like to tease their friends who have somehow failed to make it to the top in their respective game.
There is one bigger problem in India even when parents are supportive. The administration. There is so much of politics involved in it, that there is no chance of a good sportsperson emerging out of it. Could we have got a gold medal if Abhinav Bindra’s Dad had not put up his own range for his son? Never. There s no proper setup for sports apart from cricket. Cricket is considered great, by many including me, because 50 % of our population worship the sport and consider Sachin a demigod. Nothing to be removed from the great man. The way he has conducted himself for over 20 years is exemplary.
Soccer,Tenis,Kabbaddi,Volleyball,Throwball,Athletics,Badminton,Swimming,Archery,Wrestling,Boxing,all these sports are sidelined compared to cricket. Our media has played a major part in sidelining these sports. No proper coverage is given to others.Sania was hyped so much that I believe she is more into TV commercials than on court playing tennis, which brought her name and fame. Hope the same never happens to Saina Nehwal.In small towns , there are thousands of young men and women who are mightily talented, but struggle to make it to the top, just because of lack of proper guidance and support, be it financially or in any other way. In fact many small sports like weightlifting put up ads in websites and papers asking for financial aid. Such a pity.
Well there are people who swim long distance in the rough sea .Are these guys not good enough to compete in Olympics? They are just not given enough exposure and most of them end up like Megan. When I was in school, our school volleyball team had two state level players and were such good players that there was no doubt about them making it to the national level. But what I heard recently was that both were working in gulf .Two exceptional talents wasted. There are thousand like them.
I believe everyone has a taste for a particular sport, but there are only a few who actually have the talent in them to play and play really well. When these few are not given enough opportunities to showcase their talent, the real sufferer will be the sport along with the sportsperson. It’s time we think about sports as a profession, only then we as a country can expect more and more gold medals
“Yeah, what to do. She had a taluk level competition which she could not skip before her Maths exam”. Elizabeth tried to support her daughter, Megan. She was very supportive of her daughter. Even when her husband Dr Dsouza opposed his daughter’s tennis ambitions, she stood by her side and helped her in whatever way she could.
In every Kitty party, the only gossip discussion which made headlines was about academics of their younger ones. Elizabeth’s daughter was a taluk junior tennis champion and promised a lot whereas the children of other ladies were all good in academics.
“Look Elizabeth, I know Megan is very good in tennis, but what is she going to do in future. We are in India my dear; there is no future for sports. Of course there are some examples like flash in the pan like Sania, Sneha.But there are a majority of girls who are more talented than Sania, but have not made it to the top and your kid is only a taluk level champ and in 7 th now, Remember all great sportspersons started very early.”
“But she is already in Taluk level, by next three years she willsurely get up to the state level or probably national level too”
“Bullshit Elizabeth, Ask her to concentrate on studies. That’s where the future lies”
Somehow the conversation made Elizabeth rethink her ambitions for her daughter. She came home and directly went to Megan” Megan, from tomorrow you are not going to tennis clinic. Only after you pass your final exams we will think about it. You know studies are equally important. You are not good at studies. You should be good in both”
“What Mummy? How can I concentrate on both? I have to sacrifice something right”
“Absolutely. You will sacrifice your Tennis kid”
“No. Never”
“Yes. You will .Only when you pass in your 10th board exams we will look into your tennis.Atleast you can tell you have passed SSLC, unlike Sachin Tendulkar.”
“Don’t talk about him. He has done something which no one will ever do “
The fight continued for another half an hour and finally Megan caved in. She agreed to take up tennis after her 10th exams. Three years passed and now Megan had turned into a beautiful girl who had completely lost her interest in Tennis and wanted to do a management masters from UK, for which her parents were ready to shell out any amount of money.
“What about Tennis honey”
“No future in Tennis mummy, you only said na. Now I can see my future very clearly”
“Look dear. Tennis has a future. You will be very famous and earn lot of money”
“When I wanted to play, you did not allow me and now that I don’t want you cant force me into it. I want to do my masters from UK.thats final”
Thus India lost out on another Sania. Don’t you think his story can be related to most of us especially guys who want to emulate Sachin and Girls who want to copy Sania? Well I say Yes. I personally know many people who had it in them to strike it big, but due to parental and peer pressure had to suppress it and change their field.
Well. Can’t blame parents alone here. They will never want their kids to venture into something where future is very uncertain. But is that the reason India, even with a population of over a billion, struggles to bring home one medal. Peer pressure is not a big hurdle which comes in the way of the child’s ambition, but it is an important one. When one comes to know that whatever happens there is support from ones near and dear ones, then I am sure there will do a world of good to ones confidence. But if parents behave like how Elizabeth aunty behaved then, what Megan did is absolutely justified. There are also some good for nothing friends who like to tease their friends who have somehow failed to make it to the top in their respective game.
There is one bigger problem in India even when parents are supportive. The administration. There is so much of politics involved in it, that there is no chance of a good sportsperson emerging out of it. Could we have got a gold medal if Abhinav Bindra’s Dad had not put up his own range for his son? Never. There s no proper setup for sports apart from cricket. Cricket is considered great, by many including me, because 50 % of our population worship the sport and consider Sachin a demigod. Nothing to be removed from the great man. The way he has conducted himself for over 20 years is exemplary.
Soccer,Tenis,Kabbaddi,Volleyball,Throwball,Athletics,Badminton,Swimming,Archery,Wrestling,Boxing,all these sports are sidelined compared to cricket. Our media has played a major part in sidelining these sports. No proper coverage is given to others.Sania was hyped so much that I believe she is more into TV commercials than on court playing tennis, which brought her name and fame. Hope the same never happens to Saina Nehwal.In small towns , there are thousands of young men and women who are mightily talented, but struggle to make it to the top, just because of lack of proper guidance and support, be it financially or in any other way. In fact many small sports like weightlifting put up ads in websites and papers asking for financial aid. Such a pity.
Well there are people who swim long distance in the rough sea .Are these guys not good enough to compete in Olympics? They are just not given enough exposure and most of them end up like Megan. When I was in school, our school volleyball team had two state level players and were such good players that there was no doubt about them making it to the national level. But what I heard recently was that both were working in gulf .Two exceptional talents wasted. There are thousand like them.
I believe everyone has a taste for a particular sport, but there are only a few who actually have the talent in them to play and play really well. When these few are not given enough opportunities to showcase their talent, the real sufferer will be the sport along with the sportsperson. It’s time we think about sports as a profession, only then we as a country can expect more and more gold medals
