SUPPORT FROM THE SOCIETY CAN MAKE OR BREAK AN ATHLETE: BOXING & POWERLIFTING CHAMP DUSHYANT DUBEY

“I didn’t choose the sport. The sport chose me.”Growing up, I was this lazy, unathletic kid, I had won no sporting accolades in my life, besides a first place finish in a sack race many years ago and my somewhat juvenile interest in Cricket (like almost every other Indian kid).Following a friend's suggestion, I enlisted in my school's boxing classes, and within weeks of attending my first session, I was hooked line and sinker. 

While I got equal support from my school and my family, many of my peers weren't so fortunate.“I went on to win accolades, while most of my talented boxing peers dropped out.”Several people who joined the sport voluntarily, started dropping out of the boxing classes. It surprised me because some of them were certainly very talented for their age and looked set to have a bright future in the sport.I didn't quite discover the actual reasons as to why my peers stopped coming to practice, but I went on regardless. With support from my family, I ended up winning a string of accolades in boxing, and went on to successfully transition to a different sport in my later teens - powerlifting. Here too, competitive athletes of my age were quitting the sport after an initial burst of dedication or even just out of the blue.My close friend and lifting partner at the gym was also one among them. He had been one of my most formidable opponents when it came to competitive powerlifting. However, after participating in a lifting competition, he quit the sport altogether. As it turns out, his family didn't approve of his expenses and the time that he was investing in the sport. Among the disparaging comments that he received, he was told that the sport had "no future" and that he was wasting his time being involved in it.I was completely taken aback by what my friend was telling me because it was something that I had never given any serious thought to in the 3-4 years that I had been a competitive sportsperson. My family was always supportive of my sporting endeavours, with my own father being a sportsperson in his youth. The collective support that I received from my immediate and extended family was something that I always, for the lack of a better term, took for granted.

My family supported all my endeavours in sport…”Several years have since passed and even though I'm not a competitive sportsperson anymore, I look back with a lot of gratitude at all the times my family encouraged and supported me to pursue my dreams. Right from my mother making me milk shakes, to my father extending financial help, to my little brother fetching my dietary ingredients from neighbourhood shops, they were all there to help out and played just as big a role in my sporting success as I did myself.A child's family and the society are probably the most important determining factors in his/her development as a person and this goes beyond sports as well. It is not uncommon for me to still see gifted young athletes lose out on opportunities due to a lack of support from those surrounding them, and it's an incredibly unfortunate and painful sight to endure.“Schools need to be a pillar of support for sports in India…”Making sports compulsory in schools is probably one of the best ways of ensuring that budding athletes have all the support they require to reach the fullest of their sporting potential. Institutionalised support, much like the support of one's family and society, can play a pivotal role in actualizing an athlete's dreams and helping them reach the pinnacle of success that they desire. One great way of making this happen is to make sports an integral part of our school education.Only if schools step in and include sports in the educational curriculum, will it have a lasting impact on a child’s growth.Tata Tea has recently launched a petition to make sports a compulsory subject in schools across India. This will not only help children gain exposure to sports at a young age, it will enable a slow yet steady move towards a culture of sports in India. A generation of students with good sports education will thrive in physical and mental health, and also hopefully produce more world class sportspersons to represent India.To make this change possible, I urge the everyone to join the movement and sign the petition to make sports a compulsory subject in schools. Sign the petition hereAlarm Bajne Se Pehle Jaago Re!