Story of ” A Tear for a Cheer”

An interesting thought came to my mind while commuting to the office today morning and I thought I’ll share it with all of you. This thought is about the reasons that attract a person to take up any particular sport, professionally. These reasons can be identified as follows (These are the ones on top of my mind. There’ll be many more I am sure):

1. Instant liking for the game by watching others play (either in TV or in person)

2. Growing up seeing someone amongst family or friends play it professionally

3. Caliber and talent to excel in a particular sport game

4. Means to sustain livelihood by playing professionally

5. Attraction towards fame, respect, glamour etc associated with a particular sport

Now the question to ask ourselves is as to how many sports are there in India where in a professional can sustain his livelihood just by playing. When someone sees/hears about sportsmen fighting for their dues with the associations he will definitely be put off by it. It’ll be difficult to convince a parent to allow his/her child to pursue his interest in the sport and take it up professionally.

If the means of livelihood itself is not secured, I guess it’ll be unfair on our part to expect the world-class performances from our athletes. Memory of PT Usha crying on the national television still lingers and constantly reminds of the fact that we can not continue to meet out indifferent attitude to our sportsperson and then criticize them for a below par performance. The fact is that an athlete has given up on all the hopes of life to just hear us cheer for him. Can’t we do just that? Can’t we just cheer our fellow countrymen, in both victory and defeat, who are out there fighting for the glory of India, for us?