Sport is a microcosm of life. every sports experience teaches children the importance of striving for excellence and reinforces the values of preparation, persistence and commitment. Learning teamwork and cooperation is a natural outcome and social skills and self-confidence are developed while playing sports. One also learns to win and lose graciously and develop the virtue of sportsmanship which is all about fair play, hard work and acknowledging the efforts and performance of others.
As much as the health and emotional benefits of regular physical activity, these values are central to sport and help develop an individual’s skills, character and personality. This in turn assists in future career success, be it in sports arenas or business and professional careers. Yet historically, sport and education have not always been complementary in academia. Sporting pursuits and interests have often been considered detrimental to academic achievement.
However recent research increasingly suggests that students who engage in regular physical activity are more alert in class, able to concentrate for longer periods and have higher self esteem — all of which impacts favourably on academic performance.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) fully endorses sports education and recommends physical activity for 5-17-year-olds as under:
• Children and youth in this age group should undertake at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity everyday.
• Quantum of physical activity greater than 60 minutes provides additional health benefits.
• Most daily physical exercise should be aerobic in nature. There should be gradual progression to vigorous-intensity activity, to be undertaken at least three times per week.
While these recommendations apply generically to all types of physical activity including play, games, transportation (i.e. walking), recreation, family and community activities, sports and games programmes offer organised environments for meeting the physical development needs of school-going children.
From a health perspective, there’s no dearth of scientific evidence to prove that engagement in organised sports and games works wonders for children. They develop:
• Healthy musculoskeletal tissues (bones, muscles and joints)
• Healthy cardiovascular systems (heart and lungs)
·• Neuromuscular awareness (coordi-nation and movement control)
• Maintenance of healthy body weight
In addition, WHO concludes that “physical activity has been associated with psychological benefits in young people by improving their control over symptoms of anxiety and depression, and assisting in social develop-ment by providing opportunities for self-expression, building self-confidence, social interaction and integration.”
What does all this mean? While these benefits of exercise are fairly well known, regular sport and physical activity are often pushed into the background in pursuit of academic excellence. Much too often the need to excel in the classroom takes precedence over a child’s immediate health and activity needs. Long study hours, constant exam pressures and the chase for good grades impose enormous psychological burden on children and adversely affect their life balance.
Of course, there’s no gainsaying that scholarship and academic achievement are crucial. But by the same token it’s important for every child to maintain a life-study equilibrium. Parents need to keep in mind what’s best for their children rather than what’s good for themselves.
At the recent launch of the marks for sports campaign, Dr. Prannoy Roy, chairman of NDTV, the popular 24/7 television news channel, supported this thinking. “Indian parents are now so totally focused on studies that we are ignoring other aspects of children’s development. As a result child obesity is rising alarmingly and most of young India is not fit. The consequence is a rise in disease and illnesses related to being unfit. It’s time we focused on redressing the balance and making India healthy and fit. Yes, focus on studies but focus on sports and fitness too,” he said.
Clearly the challenge confronting teachers and parents is finding the right life balance for children. Professional-isation of sport and multiple financial rewards to successful sportspersons have greatly improved sports infrastructure around the country while creating greater awareness of the importance of sports education.
The challenge before education institutions, parents and sports organisations is to focus on the long-term health and development of children. Efforts in child development must focus on an integrated education environment balancing academics and sport so that today’s children will grow into well-rounded leaders and achievers of tomorrow.
(Martin Gleeson is the Mumbai-based chief executive officer of Sports Education Development India Ltd)