physical education and play sports on campus

Sure, I definitely think schools should be required to offer some form of physical education. Regular exercise helps students maintain their physical health, but it also dramatically strengthens mental health, concentration and general academic performance. One of the most important life skills, teamwork, leadership and resilience are amongst other advantages that no book can teach. Today, with schools heavily emphasizing academics over physical activity, I think that is a serious fail and one needing correction now.

Now I think that a winning athlete must posses both physical and mental features. Physically, attributes such as strength, speed & agility and endurance are of course necessary (depending on the sport). However, in my opinion mental qualities are far more important. These traits are discipline, determination again, resilience and high performance under pressure. The strong team player, who knows how to listen and learn, possibly even more important than the level of success an athlete achieves.

Talent is indeed an advantage, but I don’t believe that it is the ultimate decider in sporting success. There are plenty of naturally talented athletes in history that never realized their full potential through a lack of commitment, while tons of athletically average competitors have managed greatness through extraordinary levels of hardwork and dedication. That being said, talent is essentially a foundation, you need to build from it, and without the right training, time put in and mental capacity much variation exists that many athletes may not reach their peak potential since they might rest on their natural talent.

To be honest, identifying a child talent at an early age is not very easy. Some children display obvious natural talent from an early age and some discover their passion and develop their skills as time goes by. The problem is that it can often take a lot of directions and tryouts before a child may truly even know their strengths. It’s for these reasons that I feel schools and parents should expose children to a variety of sports and activities rather than forcing them into a sport too early in their development.

Cricket — undoubtedly the most popular sport in India. This is more than a sport here — but a passion that runs through many tongues, cultures and ages. India stops for business when it comes to India-Pak cricket matches or Australia-India matches especially if they are major encounters! People of millions unite around TV screens in houses, restaurants and public places to expect success from the national team. Cricket has been and perhaps always be the king of sports in India while off late football and kabaddi have become popular as well.

In fact, some of the best athletic specimens on earth are as rare as a unicorn. Firstly, even the very highest levels of sport require a unique combination of unparalleled natural advantage, years of committed training and guided professionalism and adequate funding. Secondly, competing at the highest level in any sport is extremely demanding mentally and often times athletes are not able to cope with the pressures, publicity and personal sacrifices that this entails. Meanwhile, injuries and burnout can quickly put an end to even the brightest careers. And all this is behind why only the tiniest fraction of athletes ever reach the pinnacle of their sport.

So in India, I think the situation is somewhere between both. Although more teenagers have become health-conscious and some begin hitting the gym, practicing yoga or playing sports in open air, many youth within one decade did not participate in almost any sport activities. Many teenagers are now less active because of the rise in the use of smartphones and social media, which means they would rather spend their free time on a screen than moving. Anyway, what gives me hope is that fitness influencers and sports academies are growing in popularity and national health organisations are encouraging young people to live healthier more active lives.

However, my answer is — yes, physical education should absolutely be required for all students. However, appropriate mediation in the school age is of great benefit for children as it helps instill healthy habits that follows them in life. But it is also crucial for mediating stress relief, sleep quality and mental wellbeing — poor mental health being an increasingly common issue for young people today. Physical education also helps children develop important social skills, including cooperation, fair play, and how to graciously accept victory and defeat. This is the kind of education that a school providing would be doing so without their students being properly educated in the physical realm — something that I would consider to truly throw off the quality of an otherwise seemingly comprehensive learning system.