For past few years there have been many efforts and campaigns towards promotion of sports other than cricket in India. There was a time when first hockey and then cricket were the only sports in knowledge of citizens of India. Now at least Indians are aware of the number of sports people can play. Thanks to the Gold medal of Abhinav Bindra and other medallists in Olympics due to which we people of India finally paid heed to sports like boxing, wrestling, shooting and archery.
This decade also came across rise in popularity of football and Kabaddi among Indians. Indian Super League (football) and Pro Kabaddi are the biggest and only contributors. I say so because there are lot of things that can be done for promoting football. I am not much concerned regarding Kabaddi since it needs promotion in foreign countries so that in future at least one team might come closer to winning against India in Kabaddi World Cup.
So the dilemma we face is why can’t a nation of 1.2billion people, that too mostly young, produce world class athletes and footballers? Before jumping straight away to answer let’s take a detour and go back to being a kid. Now I am a 10 years old boy studying in std.-V, constantly told to do my studies and play less. Whenever I turn on to sports channel on my TV I only see a cricket match. I also see cricketers in various ads. In school in sports period small kids are given football to run around and do whatever they want to whereas the grown ups play cricket. So what am I supposed to take from these? There’s only one famous sport in our country that is cricket and you even get chance to be on TV.
As it is clearly visible that the problem lies right there. The focus must be on changing the perspective of kids. Let them be aware of all the possibilities that they may have in future. Not everyone can play cricket, some might have natural talent in racquet games or athletics. Subjects like Physical Education should be introduced at early stage. Our media should give updates regarding foreign club matches. We should invite big clubs (in football like Bayern Munich, Arsenal) to come and play in our country. Start supporting the kid financially if there'scapabilities in him/her. Rich people should start investing on such kids by providing them with world class facilities, and for the people who can afford there should be more glamour in other sports too.
If product has to be sold then it must be it alluring. It should be marketed in that way.Who doesn’t want their future to be secure? When kids see fame and money they tend to follow and even their parents would support them. Earlier people saw security in farming so they did it then there was rise in education sector and everyone started taking studies seriously since it gave them better security than farming. Hence to experience rise of sports, there has to be more money, fame and security because these things are alreadyprovided in cricketand the result is right there in front of everyone.
