How to revive sports in India?

India is not really known for its sports culture. The only sport that prevails on a large scale is Cricket. It is a cricket fanatic country and you can find people really crazy about the game. The same enthusiasm doesn’t prevail when it comes to other sports. I am still unable to digest the fact that a country with such a huge population and really talented people just fails to impress in sports.

So what can India do to bring about a strong awareness of different sports and not just cricket? They really need to build a solid foundation for their sports system. How can they do that? They just need to work the same way as China. The education system is something that needs to pave the path for the sports culture. Today, Indian education primarily deals with a curriculum focussed primarily on Science, history, geography and technology. Sports never got any real attention as a vital element of education. However, with the recent success in Olympics and common wealth games, things are changing.

Schools really need to give significant weightage to sports. They can provide multiple choices to choose from. For instance, an education system needs to have at least 10% coverage of sports. A student can choose one game from different options like Athletics, Soccer, Gymnastics, Basketball, volleyball and a lot more. This has to be absorbed into the education system right from the kinder garden stage.

Strong emphasis needs to be given on the having ample sporting space for each school with good quality sporting equipment. I think the government needs to take a stance of making it obligatory for schools to respect the sporting needs. They might also provide grants so that schools have the required infrastructure to create quality athletes. The moment this gets enforced you would start seeing the results.

Today, parents are reluctant in accepting a sporting career for their children. If sports are mandated in schools then the mentality of parents is bound to change. This will usher in a new sporting revolution in India.

It’s just a matter of strong planning and infrastructure. India can become a sports powerhouse if they really do simple things better.

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