Just for the fun of it

"The Fun of Playing"

One must assume that the human body has its limits of endurance. It is in keeping with laws of conservation of energy. A part of what you take in as food burns up as energy, some gets expelled and the remainder gets deposited as fat. If we overwork our body, the fat deposits get burnt up as well, and if we stretch it even further it begins to eat up other resources that can severely stress out the whole system, leading to exhaustion, unconciousness and even death in extreme cases.

Recently, Antonio Puerta collapsed on the soccer field near the mouth of his own goal during a major soccer match. Not only that, he swallowed his own tongue. Had it not been for his team-mate Drago, who helped to pull out the unconcious player's tongue, Antonio would surely have choked to death. He was revived by the physio and finished the game only to become unconscious again in the locker room. He has been rushed to the hospital where his condition is said to be "very serious".

Not long ago, another soccer player - a brazilian, died on the field during a game in Goa. There have been other cases too around the world, bringing down a pall of gloom over the sport every now and then. Officials usually blame it on poor fitness levels or congenital problems that are not disclosed by the players. While that may be true in some cases, I am not sure that in all cases, sporting accidents of this sort happen because of undisclosed fitness issues. One wonders if most sportsmen and sportswomen are not overworked thanks to the insane levels of popularity and money associated with games such as soccer and American football.

In my early days as a school going kid and later as a college student, I used to play soccer and field hockey with an enthusiasm matched only by a Shahid or a Maradona (it is another matter that I possessed only about 0.1% of their talent). At the end of a game I would be "dead" with exhaustion. I am sure countless youngsters have experienced this. We push ourselves sometimes to the limits of our endurance. The "killer instinct" takes over and we want to win at all cost. That seems to be the problem. Winning has become much more important than just playing for fun. Gone are the days when one watched with bated breath, the magic of a Mohammed Shahid (ex-Indian hockey player) or the brilliance of a Pele or aMaradona on the soccer field. These stars surely played for the fun of it and enjoyed every bit of the game. You could see it in their game. It was poetry in motion......

Now, not only are players constantly told by the team managers, the wealthy club owners,the media and the politicians to win at all cost, they are also living in fear of being "taken off" by criminals and terrorists. I am sure Sachin is a victim of this. How can you give your 100% when there is a Lashkar or a Jaish-e-Mohammad threat hanging over you like the proverbial damocles' sword? Not too long ago, a Columbian soccer player was killed in his own country after returning home from a failed World Cup campaign. Why? Nobody knows for sure. Some say that he had made some enemies in the Columbian mafia. Others say it was revenge for having scored a self-goal in a crucial World cup match. I wont be surprised if the second possibility turned out to be true because in South America, football is more important than breathing !

No wonder, when players play under such pressure, they get "steam cooked" on and off the field. The fun element takes the back seat (or maybe it has already fallen off the rear end of the pillion). The tragic thing is that the same mentality is surfacing in schools where youngsters are encouraged to compete aggresively and brain washed into thinking that it is all about winning. Sport is all about gore and glory now. When India plays Pakistan on the hockey field or in a cricket stadium full of frenzied spectators, it is war, and not just a game. One is not denying that it takes lot of passion to play a game like soccer but when that passion takes on the colour of aggression, it transforms into violence. That is what we see splashed across newspapers or projected on the TV screen everyday - the colour of violence in sports! And lately, if you are reading a tabloid like Times of India, you'll be "treated" to sensational pictures of sexy sportswomen, which leads us to the question: why does the media mix up sex and sports? What kind of message are we sending to our kids? That you have to look sexy in order to make it big in sports?

The fun part of sports is dying. One wonders if we are going back to the age of gladiators,when a bloody sport very often ended in death. Is it too late now to turn around? Is it too late to ask: "Can we just play for fun?"

Just for the fun of it

"The Fun of Playing"

One must assume that the human body has its limits of endurance. It is in keeping with laws of conservation of energy. A part of what you take in as food burns up as energy, some gets expelled and the remainder gets deposited as fat. If we overwork our body, the fat deposits get burnt up as well, and if we stretch it even further it begins to eat up other resources that can severely stress out the whole system, leading to exhaustion, unconciousness and even death in extreme cases.

Recently, Antonio Puerta collapsed on the soccer field near the mouth of his own goal during a major soccer match. Not only that, he swallowed his own tongue. Had it not been for his team-mate Drago, who helped to pull out the unconcious player's tongue, Antonio would surely have choked to death. He was revived by the physio and finished the game only to become unconscious again in the locker room. He has been rushed to the hospital where his condition is said to be "very serious".

Not long ago, another soccer player - a brazilian, died on the field during a game in Goa. There have been other cases too around the world, bringing down a pall of gloom over the sport every now and then. Officials usually blame it on poor fitness levels or congenital problems that are not disclosed by the players. While that may be true in some cases, I am not sure that in all cases, sporting accidents of this sort happen because of undisclosed fitness issues. One wonders if most sportsmen and sportswomen are not overworked thanks to the insane levels of popularity and money associated with games such as soccer and American football.

In my early days as a school going kid and later as a college student, I used to play soccer and field hockey with an enthusiasm matched only by a Shahid or a Maradona (it is another matter that I possessed only about 0.1% of their talent). At the end of a game I would be "dead" with exhaustion. I am sure countless youngsters have experienced this. We push ourselves sometimes to the limits of our endurance. The "killer instinct" takes over and we want to win at all cost. That seems to be the problem. Winning has become much more important than just playing for fun. Gone are the days when one watched with bated breath, the magic of a Mohammed Shahid (ex-Indian hockey player) or the brilliance of a Pele or aMaradona on the soccer field. These stars surely played for the fun of it and enjoyed every bit of the game. You could see it in their game. It was poetry in motion......

Now, not only are players constantly told by the team managers, the wealthy club owners,the media and the politicians to win at all cost, they are also living in fear of being "taken off" by criminals and terrorists. I am sure Sachin is a victim of this. How can you give your 100% when there is a Lashkar or a Jaish-e-Mohammad threat hanging over you like the proverbial damocles' sword? Not too long ago, a Columbian soccer player was killed in his own country after returning home from a failed World Cup campaign. Why? Nobody knows for sure. Some say that he had made some enemies in the Columbian mafia. Others say it was revenge for having scored a self-goal in a crucial World cup match. I wont be surprised if the second possibility turned out to be true because in South America, football is more important than breathing !

No wonder, when players play under such pressure, they get "steam cooked" on and off the field. The fun element takes the back seat (or maybe it has already fallen off the rear end of the pillion). The tragic thing is that the same mentality is surfacing in schools where youngsters are encouraged to compete aggresively and brainwashed into thinking that it is all about winning. Sport is all about gore and glory now. When India plays Pakistan on the hockey field or in a cricket stadium full of frenzied spectators, it is war, and not just a game. One is not denying that it takes lot of passion to play a game like soccer but when that passion takes on the colour of aggression, it transforms into violence. That is what we see splashed across newspapers or projected on the TV screen everyday - the colour of violence in sports! And lately, if you are reading a tabloid like Times of India, you'll be "treated" to sensational pictures of sexy sportswomen, which leads us to the question: why
does the media mix up sex and sports? What kind of message are we sending to our kids?
That you have to look sexy in order to make it big in sports?

The fun part of sports is dying. One wonders if we are going back to the age of gladiators,when a bloody sport very often ended in death. Is it too late now to turn around? Is it toolate to ask: "Can we just play for fun?"