Not everyone gets associated with rich clubs or associations, not everyone has the luck to practice on a bouncy pitch of a grassy playground, and not everyone can afford the golf kit but yes there is one thing which we all can have — the true spirit to do something in life, a spirit which doesn’t let you sleep so that you could turn your dreams into reality. This is what I learned when I recently visited one remote village and I was greatly impressed and astonished with the enthusiasm which I witnessed amongst the villagers during my three days stay there.
When the entire world was busy glueing themselves to the TV sets or going to the playgrounds to watch the IPL glitz, glamour and the game, there were these villagers who were excited in their ways of playing different types of sports, completely unaware of the outside world’s happenings. Think somewhere deep within they had that spirit alive, which is the most important driving factor.
Bats which did not say Reebok or any other brand, balls made up of the coconut shell, stumps made up of bamboo sticks, pads made from the barks of the trees… a new picture to IPL-Impoverished players League. When few people were busy playing cricket, you could also see few children playing the game of gilli danda on the streets, somewhere you could see marbles striking with other marbles or some playing kabaddi. These days you don’t get to see all these games and especially if you are a part of one of the crowded hi-tech cities then you should forget about such games.
With the tremendous craze of sports like cricket, a lot of games have been forgotten and one day would come soon when all those games would completely disappear. A very few people would remember who Dhyan Chand is but almost everyone would know almost everything about Tendulkar. There is nothing wrong in this. It’s just that the entire limelight is focused on just one thing. People don’t want to look beyond what already exists. In this apprehension young dynamic people who are interested in some different kind of sports, their dream don’t even take off to reach the real world…all because of lack of facilities, lack of resources, lack of money, lack of scope and above all lack of encouragement.
Why can’t we get an Olympic gold medal if we are also trained properly from our childhood days just like other countries? Why is that we have to think twice before jumping into a new form of sports? If villagers as mentioned could be trained then surely they would come up with flying colors as they have that zeal to do something in life, which is the most important thing we need, especially sports. Any sports in that matter need that spirit so that players could perform well.