Rediscovering the Joy of Sports: A Journey from Childhood to Adulthood

It’s 5:00 pm, and you're sitting on a bench in a community park. From a group of elderly people sharing their wisdom to a bunch of tiny toddlers exploring the park, it can easily mesmerize you. Other than these two groups, possibly there can be a few more groups that complete the panorama of life. It is amazing to see how a small ground with lush green grass can showcase the whole cycle of human life.

To pass through the journey of life, we all go through some amazing experiences, out of these some can be categorized into very generic groups. One such category is of physical activities. As a child, there is this deep-rooted craving or push that gives nature an opportunity to improve our current state of development to the next level. Take an example of a child that is trying to learn how to walk, even though a child can move from one place to another by crawling, but still he/she tries to go to the next level. The journey continues all through life.

In our current world, we have kind of categorized this deep-rooted desire under a term called Sports. Even though at the topmost layer of understanding, it is a way to prove that with a given set of limitations and rules few among us are better than the rest, but when we look deeper it is a lot more than that. Sports give us an opportunity to keep this innate desire of improvising ourselves, just as a child does.

When we as adults try to influence this beautiful experience with our preconceived notions of winning and losing, we tend to take away the beauty of exploration from it. For a six-year-old child, a game is a wonderful opportunity to push their own individual limits. An opportunity of being with their friends to create a canvas of unforgettable memories.

A few years back when my son participated in his first sports day event, while he was four years old, I remember watching all little ones trying their best to complete the task given to them. The excitement in each of their eyes was so beautiful that only a heart could capture it. The moment that task was completed, the first three children who completed the task fastest were given medals. On our way back home, my little one asked me a question, 'Why was I not given that shiny thing?' As obvious, I told him that it was for kids who finished their tasks first. I never would have thought about what came next. His reply was, 'I also finished it fast. Yesterday I was slower than today.' That day it really got me thinking that can a four-year-old really understand the logic behind these medals and trophies? Maybe not, for them, it is just something they enjoy and as adults, it is our duty to keep it that way until they are old enough to understand it.

So with the same spirit let us groom the idea where a trophy or a medal is a reminder for our little ones being at their best. Let them enjoy and experience sports as it should be at their age – ‘A wonderful experience of completing the task they were given with excitement and fun.’

Happy Reading!