Growing up in India, Sports was but a luxury for every kid. Our sporty ordeal was a sealed deal starting with 'Tag' and ending with 'Hide and Seek'. There were occasional spurs of hourly rented bicycles and short sprints to the local grocery stores. It would be overly generous to say there were handful of kids who learnt 'How-to' of any kind of sport.
Fast forward life to this country -USA, married with two kids. Without any agenda in our minds, from an early age of four we let our kids be actively involved in soccer and Tennis. They enjoyed every day, every season and so it went on for years. There were skipped playdates, missed get-togethers, last minute cancellation of 'visiting-your-friend family' date. But sports became and still is the very center of our kids lives.
There were times when I got perplexed looks with questions in their minds; "Why Sports? Why all this craze?". Honestly, this question never popped in my head before. Yet the looks forced me to gaze upon my kids, step back and think about the WHYs. Is it for the so-called desirable sports scholarship , or is it because it makes their application more appealing to the prospective colleges? Do they get any extra credits? Why is all this so essential?
Well, what I learnt in these years is Sports is a religion. It's a way of life. It develops integrity, teaches you the relevance of hard work, persistence and perseverance; working in a team for a common goal, respecting your opponent irrespective of the outcome.
Most important of all it teaches "How to win humble and loose gracefully".
Now isn't that what life is all about?
Fast forward life to this country -USA, married with two kids. Without any agenda in our minds, from an early age of four we let our kids be actively involved in soccer and Tennis. They enjoyed every day, every season and so it went on for years. There were skipped playdates, missed get-togethers, last minute cancellation of 'visiting-your-friend family' date. But sports became and still is the very center of our kids lives.
There were times when I got perplexed looks with questions in their minds; "Why Sports? Why all this craze?". Honestly, this question never popped in my head before. Yet the looks forced me to gaze upon my kids, step back and think about the WHYs. Is it for the so-called desirable sports scholarship , or is it because it makes their application more appealing to the prospective colleges? Do they get any extra credits? Why is all this so essential?
Well, what I learnt in these years is Sports is a religion. It's a way of life. It develops integrity, teaches you the relevance of hard work, persistence and perseverance; working in a team for a common goal, respecting your opponent irrespective of the outcome.
Most important of all it teaches "How to win humble and loose gracefully".
Now isn't that what life is all about?
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