“Beta what do you want to become when you grow up?”, asked an Aunt to a 7 year old. Pat came the reply “Dhoni”. Father beamed, “He loves cricket, Did you check my Facebook page I upload his scores in matches, photos” Fast forward few years, child is turning 12-13, child still wants to play cricket but his father or mother says”I have put him in the coaching camp. Its a good hobby. But Everybody can’t become Dhoni! It is few more years then he has to focus on his 10th and become an engineer.  This article talks about the early years of a child in India, The middle year of child of getting interested in Sports, Money spent on playing sports like Swimming,cricket,badminton. Alternate career options in Sports, Journey of PV Sindhu.

Early Years of Child: Exposure to activites

No child is born gripping a cricket bat , a chess pawn, a stethoscope, computer. Parents expose their children to all kinds of things at a young age whether is it athletics,art, musical instrument or a sport(at times overloading them). It is a foundation stone of good parenting(not the overloading part), to ensure a wholesome development as well as a memorable childhood. The key to a healthy development lies in identifying your child’s interests and ensuring a parent does not force him or her into anything which they do not like. Most children grow up playing cricket, football, basketball and badminton. Few play hockey, volleyball and tennis. Not only is playing sports is brilliant form of physical exercise, sports teach kids teamwork, dedication, and diligence. They build confidence and character and also teach them how to overcome obstacle. A child should play a number of sports initially and then narrow down on one. Shikhar Dhawan started playing tennis and food ball and he was good at all of them.Learning period in sports extends from age of 5 to 18 years. At the age of nine you can play live sports and focus on one by the time you are 14.

Middle years of Child: Interest in Sports

Should you, or should you not? This is a question that most parents face when it comes to dealing with their children— whether the kids are asking for permission to go on a sleepover at a friend’s place, asking for money to buy something, or—yes—even asking whether they can get into a sports academy. Parents are the first talent spotters a child encounters and as such their role is very important. Once a child starts taking active interest in a sport, question that a parent faces is whether to admit child to a reputed coaching academy where he can play the same regularly hone his skills and find out how he fares in relation to others. Many children who show interest begin with a small cricket club near his house. As he started doing well, his coach  says “Yeh lambi race ka ghoad hai ” (He is cut out for the big league). Admitting a child in a sports academy is no guarantee for a career in sports. 

Coach: A coach is crucial, depending on the sport, he can soon spot exceptional talent. We all know the contribution of coach Pullela Gopichand to career of Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu. But it  is important for the kid to play and enjoy the game for the first couple of years without getting exposed to tough competition. Finding a coach,however, doesn’t mean the parents can take their eyes off the ball. Since the child is focusing on a sport,it is incumbent on them to ensure that he maintains a balance with other aspects of his life.

Diet:All sports are physically demanding, even chess. A health diet, drawn up possibly in consultation with the coach is imperative for growing bodies.

Medical Advice: When the idea of a career is taking root, it makes sense to seek medical advice. A thorough medical checkup is needed to see whether a child is fit for competitive sport. Something like a cadilogical condition or a thalesmic trait may not affect him in a normal life but may  hinder a sporting career. If you are investing time and money in a sports career you need to know.

Exercise This is important even in the case of sports that require physical exercise because injuries can end a promising career.

Growth line: Time is everything in sports career. Once the child starts winning in house events or contributing significantly to them, he should movie into the city tournament and then to zonal , state , national and international level. If he doesn’t make the cut at the right age, it may be prudent to reconsider sports as a career.

Overall well being : A child deeply involved in sports exert himself far more than his peers ad a little indulgence doesn’t hurt. But crucial is balancing academics with sports and question of finances.

Support System in Sports

Remember that during this time chasing school project deadlines, finishing homework and keeping up with studies are the most strenuous forms of exercises that many students engage in while passionately honing their sports skills. A player needs a big support system. Poor performance and injury can break the morale of a child. Parents need too have the sportsman spirit as well and should teach the child to be gracious in defeat. From Rahul Dravid speech at MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture 2015-16

Sachin had a great support system. His family were supportive and caring, his elder brother was always there to guide him, his coach Ramakant Achrekar was more than a coach, a mentor – in life and on the pitch, teaching him how to hold the bat, driving him to games. Sachin was lucky that he had this vast umbrella of support and I dare say and he would agree, he wouldn’t have survived and prospered if not for it. Not every young talent is lucky enough to have that kind of support. The history of Indian cricket is littered with stories of young exciting talent falling by the way side due to a lack of support and guidance.

School vs Sports

Most parents can live with their child missing a few days of primary school. But when faced with the board exams, a crucial juncture at their playing careers as well, most parents opt for the safer option: studies. Many kids who excel in both sport and academics but that means opening books after the day’s play.

Yes attitudes are changing. Many Parents move to a less demanding school. But One needs to be cautious when it comes to question of deciding between sports and school. Since so few make into sports it seems sensible to keep other career options open and much of that still depends on academics. Open school plans in the pre board stage and correspondence courses for graduation don’t require regular attendance and are often the favoured choices. This decision is in infact indicative of the seriousness with which parents pursue a child’s sporting dreams.

Since sports as a career is still on the growth curve, few parents put academics completely on the back burner. Shah Rukh Khan has said that “Indian parents don’t see sports as profession.”  This is primarily due to the notion that all students must pursue a professional degree and then move onto finding a job in the “usual” fields of engineering, medicine, software etc. The tightrope can be tough but not impossible.Parents feel sports cannot pay them handsomely in life the way a regular job can. The job security that a regular job has to offer cannot be there in a sports career. What also worries them is the short span of a sports career. As parents they want their children to have a safe and secure future and perhaps that is the main reason why they put their foot down when it comes to a career in sports. But the truth is that job insecurity is there everywhere even in bank jobs or IT.

Shikhar Dhawan says he had his father’s business to fall back on. I wish I hadn’t taken studies so lighly , infact I’ll advise all aspiring cricketers especially those who don’t have business to fall back on to focus on their studies. A good academic career always helps. From Rahul Dravid speech at MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture 2015-16

15-year-old, reasonably good but now studying in Std 10. Alarm bells ringing in the heads of Indian parents everywhere. At an age when the only decision that boys should stress about is whether to start shaving or not, we expect them to decide what they want to do with their lives. What usually happens in such a scenario is that one set of players – those who haven’t made the U-16 state team – decide that cricket is not for them. Then others decide to give up on studies altogether because they are dead sure they can make it in cricket.

It is important for our young cricketers to continue with their education – even if all the time away from schools makes it hard for them to finish their graduation. It will be something they can go back to in case the cricket dream doesn’t come true for some reason. But aside from all that, it is important to stay connected to school and college because it will mean they have friends outside cricket, conversations outside cricket and life experiences that are not connected to cricket. It will give them the perspective needed to become well-rounded adults.

Money spent on playing sports

Capital is necessary for coaching,gear,nutrition and travel at the very least. Parents should have a corpus to support their children for a defined time period. One may need to create a training budget should be created for the child to allow him access to all the facilities and training required for his sport.  Costs vary widely from sport to sport. Cricket is generally regarded as a financially easier option as once a boy starts playing at the state of club level, all his expenses are borne by BCCI. You end up spending Rs 2000- 5000 on his cricket every month. Bat costs vary from 1000 to 10,000 Rs. The image below,from Business Today, shows cost, training life cycle, primary financial support during training and Employment opportunities.

 

For tennis and chess costs escalate as a child progresses up a ladder. expenses multiply when one begins playing outside his city, since he has to be accompanied by at-least one parent. The image below shows the Break down of costs of playing badminton

Sponsorship: It is extremely hard, though not impossible to come come by for the individual games like tennis and chess. At all but highest levels, sponsorhsip depends more on individual networking skills that actual recognition of merit. At high levels sponsorship might be available but at lower levels you have to go to sponsors they don’t come to you.

Medical insurance, a policy covering sports injured should be examined. A contingency reserve should be created to supplement income in case of accident/injury. Scholarships/sponsorship/endorsement options can be explored. The image below shows the Break down of costs of playing various sports badminton

Indians does not have sporting mindset

In India education and work have been the recommended ways to make money and live somewhat happily ever after. Indians crave security. Our success as an academically-oriented people proves that we are excellent at pursuing something that pays well or, at least, regularly; to a lesser extent.  For many hardship and poverty makes them desperate to escape it by seeking, more than anything else, a source of income for life. Sport has never been the horse an average Indian would want to bet his money on. Only the very poor or the very well off in India feel motivated enough (for entirely different reasons) to focus on competitive sports apart from cricket and studies If you look at the Olympic medal winners

• Leander Paes hails from a prosperous family.Abhinav Bindra, too, belongs to an affluent Sikh family.
• But Sushil Kumar Tehlan’s and Vijender Singh’s fathers were both bus drivers. Karnam Malleswari, however, took to the hard grind of weightlifting as a means to give herself and her kin a better life.
• Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was an Army man with access to world class training and nurturing from an early age.

None of these medal winners are part of the ‘Great Indian middle class.’ . This is the prime reason India does not win very many medals at the Olympics, and other world level competitions. No more than a very small percentage of the population is willing to devote its life to athletics, shooting, judo, table tennis, gymnastics, fencing and the like. That is why a country with so many people has so little to show by way of Olympic medals. Since 2005, Lakshmi Mittal has been funding the $10 million Mittal Champions Trust to support 10 Indian athletes with “world beating potential”.  However, it’s a risky investment in an historically feeble enterprise. For India, despite its billion plus population and genetic diversity, has had an astonishingly unimpressive record in international athletic achievement.

If India has to become a sports heavyweight, sport must become a middle class pursuit. Right now, only cricket, acquiring a university degree and work indisputably are. It’s only when these activities become as or even somewhat as rewarding as cricket, school, and the ubiquitous ‘import-export’ will a majority of the billion Indians take it up. Until then, it’s idiotic to carp about the fact that

Alternate career options in Sports

You need spectacular talent and luck to make it in sports in India although there are allied professions that not so successful could consider.  Even when you’re looking at a serious playing career, it pays to be aware of the alternatives. good sports performance at the state and national level opens many doors. For more than a toe hold in these opportunities though a fair academy record is necessary.

• Sports quota admission: State run colleges have performance based admission quotas for state/national level sports people. Many US varsities too are generous with sports scholarships.
• Sports quota employment : National and state level players can take advantage of support quotas in government departments like railways amd excise or in public sector companies.
• Coaching, physiotherapy , nutition , commentry and allied services.

Journey of P V Sindhu

Sindhu has been playing the sport professionally since she was just eight years old, which means she has a 13-year long history in the sport already at the age of just 21. It follows, then, that there are several moments which have helped shape her journey so far. We look at the key moments in her career that have made her who she is today: From PV Sindhu’s career timeline

• 2003:Born in a family of Volleyball players, Sindhu says she got inspiration from her coach Pullela Gopichand’s win in 2001 All England Badminton Championship and chose Badminton over Volleyball at an early age of eight in 2003
• 2004: The young girl started her first training in the sport with Mehboob Ali at the badminton courts of Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad.
• 2005: The shuttler won her first major tournament in the form of the 5th Servo All India ranking championship in the under-10 category. Sindhu also won the singles title at the Ambuja Cement All India ranking at that young age of 10.
• 2007: A 13-year-old Sindhu went on to win doubles titles in the Under-13 category at four major tournaments, as she won at the IOC All India Ranking, Krishna Khaitan All India Tournament, the Sub-Junior Nationals and the All India Ranking in Pune. This brought the shuttler widespread recognition on the domestic circuit.
• 2008: Sindhu joined the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, which started a new journey for the shuttler.  Sindhu used to travel more than 50 kilometres everyday to get to her training centre in Hyderabad.
• Hard working, tireless and never one to miss training, Sindhu had set aside all distractions before the Games, including her mobile phone. She has been off Twitter since the start of the Olympics, father Ramana said.
• Sindhu’s parents told the media after the victory that, from the time she was young, she would cry if she missed practice even for a day. “She has been training from when she was 10 years old. The last twelve years or so have not been easy for us. The first few years, we used to come to the academy everyday from Secunderabad. She would cry if I could not bring her even for a day. But we are glad that we did all that and followed the rigour. I cannot think Gopi enough,” Ramana said
• 2009: Sindhu saw herself develop into a force to be reckoned with as she won the gold medal in the Under-14 category at the 51st National School Games in India. In the same year, Sindhu won a bronze medal at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships held in Colombo, which was her first ever international tournament. This indicated that the shuttler was ready to compete globally at such a young age, and she was already said to be ahead of her fellow competitors at that point.
• 2010: The 15-year-old had become a sensation in the sport of badminton and she bagged her first ever senior medal when she won the silver in the women’s singles at the Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge. This achievement also led to the shuttler finding a place in the national team of India at the 2010 Uber Cup.
• 2012: Sindhu stepped up her pursuit of becoming the best, a goal which had been instilled in her by her coach Gopichand. The 17-year-old saw herself win the gold medal at the Asia Youth Under-19 Championships that year. The icing on the cake came when the youngster defeated Li Xuerui of China, who had just won the gold medal at the London Olympics. This helped her in progressing to the semi-finals of the Li Ning China Masters Superseries tournament. Her good run of form resulted in the Indian finishing the year at the 15th spot in the world rankings.
• 2013: Sindhu did not take her foot off the pedal, and she became the champion of the Malaysian Open 2013 – this was her maiden Grand Prix Gold title. But what made the year truly special for Sindhu was that she became India’s first medalist in women’s singles at the Badminton World Championships.The shuttler ended the year on a high by also winning the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold title.
• 2016; Winner of olympic Silver Medal at Rio Olympics.

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Sports is a sunrise industry in India today. It demands talent, dedication,consistency, sacrifice and a lot of hard work from the sportsperson himself and above all from his parents. So are you planning to encourage your child to explore sports as career? Have you explored the option of your child taking sports as a career, how much have you spent on his sports activity.