Kiddy sports

November 23, 2015.

On the day after Deepavali vacations, Chiyu did not want to go to school; she protested as schools of her friends were yet to start. There is no sports class on Monday, the only class Chiyu and all children look to. Chiyu and Shreya do not play; they have rare sports classes and the one period sports class on Friday is not that. Just about offers them free time from books and teachers. Sure, they are happy. In most private schools in Borivili, children do not play; municipal schools on Eksar Road and L.T. Road have no grounds; but they play walking to school and in school with no teachers. Men and women of statistics report drop out rates, child nutrition measures but nothing to put a number or ratio to kids playing sports, any sports; slum and village kids, even after working for a living, do game; a rag ball, a wooden plank of a bat make up cricket for them; girls sometimes are into Kho-kho; Kho-kho, perhaps is the play best preparing kids for all other sports; spare and speed are must for Kho-kho; all sports need it; can do without trainers and large fields; for sports coaching classes, Kho-kho is hey, junglee; a Malayalam TV channel has a daily programme, Kutti Pattalam with kids mimicing Mohan Lal and not sprinting like P.T. Usha; school sports is not discussed by child psychologists or rather me has not heard any; well, sports pages in newspapers and TV channels have nothing for kids. Possibly, the only channel which helps is Doordarshan; a week ago one watched Junior Kho-Kho 2014 Championships; did not know Telengana girls and boys are the best at Kho-kho with North East making the base. Friend Vino John posted on Facebook news of India lifting Junior Asia Cup 2015 in Kuanton, Malaysia. Captained by Harjeet Singh, coached by Harendra Singh, India beat Pakistan 6-2; not news for most media; thanks Vino John. Not come across parents talk of their children doing well in running, winning medals; as a kid, me came third in 100, 200 and 400 metres sprint at one meet; collected three Colgate toothpaste packs; parents did not think much of it; were surely not proud. Governments cannot do everything. Should not. Agreed. Schools can come together informally and decide on a Sports School Day; one Day, every week, one day for sports; no books, blackboards, boasts; children and sports; to begin; could kick up parental quarrels pushing schools to employ trainers for some basic sports, like Kho-kho; or teachers could double as sporters. School grounds could be shared; or parks could be loaned; studying at Hindi High School, which had no grounds in Calcutta, we were carted in school buses to the Maidan to kick footballs or simply run. Media, starting with Indian Express, could have a weekly half or full page of school sports with pics. Somewhere can we whistle in a football game, a hockey match or an athletic run for kids. Least, we will get them fit to carry 10 kg of books in school bags every day to school and keep school industry profitable. Will Shreya, Chiyu and many, many kids play? Win an Olympic Gold in athletics, 20 years hence.