IN times of despair for a country, the sports person plays a very important role. When people are nearly convinced of the futility of centuries old ideals and principles for which men instinctively feel admiration, the sports person rises with nothing but his pure dedication, hard work and iron will to rise 'inspite of' a system meant to subdue all like him.
In the developed world, when a sports person accomplishes great things, he makes his country proud. However, in the developing world, where facilities are nearly non-existent, career paths for individuals not known, there is almost zero financial assistance, coaching or guidance - in such circumstances when an individual rises, he provides his people the hope and belief that great human values can surmount the challenges thrown by a rotten system. He becomes a symbol of dedication, hard work and honesty. Deepika Kumari, the daughter of an Auto Rickshaw driver might have been unsuccessful at getting an Olympic medal to India, but, what she has done has shown that it is possible for the people to overcome powerful challenges.
It must be noted with caution on what follows when someone like the above begins showing signs of success - for it must be remembered that the success of such an individual is not their personal success; Rather, it is actually the triumph of eternal values of humanity which drive greatest achievements. The rich and the powerful, who are beneficiaries of their respective systems do not want this to happen as this phenomenon threatens the very basis of their exploitation of the masses. So the giant machinery comes into motion as soon as there is scent of such a possibility.
The first role is played by the media when they go and associate themselves with the sports persons while they are still fresh and only show signs of future brilliance - having still not attained anything of significance. Thereby they spoil their focus and allure them into the world of glamour and success before they are actually earned. Most, who are not sufficiently careful, get wasted with this very small trick.
Those who manage to still achieve their initial successes are then targeted by the next level of more poisonous challenges. These challenges typically take the form of monetary rewards and the admittance of specific individuals into the world of glamour. This is a very vicious attempt and it is very difficult for the preys to gauge this allurement. When individuals have toiled for long years and have achieved some feat, they face these great temptations when they are exhausted. But, they do not understand the implication of succumbing to these. When the governments announce crores of rupees for these individuals and the media creates a frenzy over them, they are actually attaining the following:
(a) Unethically hijacking the actual achievement of the sports person, indirectly stating the achievement was made possible because of them.
(b) Including the particular individual in the privileged sections of the society, thereby distancing the individual from the millions who could have related with him and felt inspired by his dedication for the greater human values.
(c) And most of all they ensure that with all the newly found money and glamour, the individual is corrupted because the individual knows there are thousands deprived like him striving for the same as him; Those who are being prevented by the system. But, by distancing himself from them and instead joining the same system that subdued him this long, he is actually committing a betrayal against them.
(d) Spoiling the focus of the individual from his core competence into peripheral non sense like acting, dancing, attending talk shows, writing columns etc. Most wickedly, thus, the system ensures that the specific feat is never repeated.
With these four, they thus successfully demolish one more budding symbol of honesty and dedication that could raise the belief and morale of the country. People who have individually fallen prey to these ugly tactics can be found in plenty - Bindra, Rathore and Vijender being the best examples.
While the media - political alliance plays very cunningly and systematically, the individual athletes, and their coaches are simpletons and strangers to such viciousness. Unknown, they walk straight into these traps and destroy themselves.
The ideal sports person is not someone whose stops with his personal success. That is far from ideal. More than that he is an embodiment of certain eternal ideals and values. Thus, his primary responsibility is in ensuring that he preserves and promotes these values through his specific natural gifts. He must never compromise on this by falling prey to the tricks of anyone.
The response of the ideal sports person to the above challenges should be along the following lines:
(a) At all points in time, one must avoid the media. This is the first step. In this regard, the coach, managerial staff and all well wishers should help them. This is a must till the time one has attained the highest summits in their respective fields.
(b) One should always maintain safe distance from those sections of society that pull him away from people of his own lot. This includes either by rejecting any monetary awards conferred on them (unless they are needy financially) or they should forward any such money received back to the institutions that helped make them.
(c) Take one's personal careers to successful culminations but primarily with a view of setting examples before the people and thereby ensure that the ideals one represents are strengthened by his or her contributions.
(d) Once completed one's career, it becomes his duty to contribute to the deprived but talented lot of which he was once a part. In this, one must remember that though he had struggled and sacrificed a lot but on that sacrificial soil he should see the rise of the next generation. Apart from the raw talent which nature endows, most people in the developing world lack the system that guides and mentors them through the unknown maze of shaping a career of their talent. It becomes then the sports persons supreme duty to ensure that he builds this system for the next generation which he unfortunately could not enjoy.
Most of the work described above are what any normal government would be expected to do. However, given the reality of our world individuals must take up such work of their own. Gopichand is an excellent example of this and his contribution becomes more and more apparent today as his students now begin shining across the globe. This transition from the individual sports person to the mentor and guide requires a vision which our sportsmen have unfortunately not possessed.
This years Olympics has given new hope in the form of several names rising above the ordinary inspite of the pathetic setup. How they will individually fare in the next games and how we will fare over a longer term, even outside of the sphere of sports in our national life, will greatly depend on how this next generation sports persons take up these responsibilities. They must understand that with their certain superior physical and mental capacities, they have also inherited a larger responsibility of ensuring the preservation and propagation of the values that drove them to success. They must realise that these same values are what drive man to achieve success in all spheres of existence.
In the developed world, when a sports person accomplishes great things, he makes his country proud. However, in the developing world, where facilities are nearly non-existent, career paths for individuals not known, there is almost zero financial assistance, coaching or guidance - in such circumstances when an individual rises, he provides his people the hope and belief that great human values can surmount the challenges thrown by a rotten system. He becomes a symbol of dedication, hard work and honesty. Deepika Kumari, the daughter of an Auto Rickshaw driver might have been unsuccessful at getting an Olympic medal to India, but, what she has done has shown that it is possible for the people to overcome powerful challenges.
It must be noted with caution on what follows when someone like the above begins showing signs of success - for it must be remembered that the success of such an individual is not their personal success; Rather, it is actually the triumph of eternal values of humanity which drive greatest achievements. The rich and the powerful, who are beneficiaries of their respective systems do not want this to happen as this phenomenon threatens the very basis of their exploitation of the masses. So the giant machinery comes into motion as soon as there is scent of such a possibility.
The first role is played by the media when they go and associate themselves with the sports persons while they are still fresh and only show signs of future brilliance - having still not attained anything of significance. Thereby they spoil their focus and allure them into the world of glamour and success before they are actually earned. Most, who are not sufficiently careful, get wasted with this very small trick.
Those who manage to still achieve their initial successes are then targeted by the next level of more poisonous challenges. These challenges typically take the form of monetary rewards and the admittance of specific individuals into the world of glamour. This is a very vicious attempt and it is very difficult for the preys to gauge this allurement. When individuals have toiled for long years and have achieved some feat, they face these great temptations when they are exhausted. But, they do not understand the implication of succumbing to these. When the governments announce crores of rupees for these individuals and the media creates a frenzy over them, they are actually attaining the following:
(a) Unethically hijacking the actual achievement of the sports person, indirectly stating the achievement was made possible because of them.
(b) Including the particular individual in the privileged sections of the society, thereby distancing the individual from the millions who could have related with him and felt inspired by his dedication for the greater human values.
(c) And most of all they ensure that with all the newly found money and glamour, the individual is corrupted because the individual knows there are thousands deprived like him striving for the same as him; Those who are being prevented by the system. But, by distancing himself from them and instead joining the same system that subdued him this long, he is actually committing a betrayal against them.
(d) Spoiling the focus of the individual from his core competence into peripheral non sense like acting, dancing, attending talk shows, writing columns etc. Most wickedly, thus, the system ensures that the specific feat is never repeated.
With these four, they thus successfully demolish one more budding symbol of honesty and dedication that could raise the belief and morale of the country. People who have individually fallen prey to these ugly tactics can be found in plenty - Bindra, Rathore and Vijender being the best examples.
While the media - political alliance plays very cunningly and systematically, the individual athletes, and their coaches are simpletons and strangers to such viciousness. Unknown, they walk straight into these traps and destroy themselves.
The ideal sports person is not someone whose stops with his personal success. That is far from ideal. More than that he is an embodiment of certain eternal ideals and values. Thus, his primary responsibility is in ensuring that he preserves and promotes these values through his specific natural gifts. He must never compromise on this by falling prey to the tricks of anyone.
The response of the ideal sports person to the above challenges should be along the following lines:
(a) At all points in time, one must avoid the media. This is the first step. In this regard, the coach, managerial staff and all well wishers should help them. This is a must till the time one has attained the highest summits in their respective fields.
(b) One should always maintain safe distance from those sections of society that pull him away from people of his own lot. This includes either by rejecting any monetary awards conferred on them (unless they are needy financially) or they should forward any such money received back to the institutions that helped make them.
(c) Take one's personal careers to successful culminations but primarily with a view of setting examples before the people and thereby ensure that the ideals one represents are strengthened by his or her contributions.
(d) Once completed one's career, it becomes his duty to contribute to the deprived but talented lot of which he was once a part. In this, one must remember that though he had struggled and sacrificed a lot but on that sacrificial soil he should see the rise of the next generation. Apart from the raw talent which nature endows, most people in the developing world lack the system that guides and mentors them through the unknown maze of shaping a career of their talent. It becomes then the sports persons supreme duty to ensure that he builds this system for the next generation which he unfortunately could not enjoy.
Most of the work described above are what any normal government would be expected to do. However, given the reality of our world individuals must take up such work of their own. Gopichand is an excellent example of this and his contribution becomes more and more apparent today as his students now begin shining across the globe. This transition from the individual sports person to the mentor and guide requires a vision which our sportsmen have unfortunately not possessed.
This years Olympics has given new hope in the form of several names rising above the ordinary inspite of the pathetic setup. How they will individually fare in the next games and how we will fare over a longer term, even outside of the sphere of sports in our national life, will greatly depend on how this next generation sports persons take up these responsibilities. They must understand that with their certain superior physical and mental capacities, they have also inherited a larger responsibility of ensuring the preservation and propagation of the values that drove them to success. They must realise that these same values are what drive man to achieve success in all spheres of existence.
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