Sports: Entertainment? Social Glue? or Lifesaver?
By Riya Orison
The pandemic has made people question the importance of many activities. One such question is, how essential is watching sports live on TV? During one such discussion in kanthari, Paul, who is an avid football fan, feels that sports events are not as important as many people think they are.
In the context of Corona pandemic, sports might not be as essential as healthcare or nutrition. But it is one of the purest forms of entertainment that connects people across the world. Fans take time out of their busy schedules and even wake up at odd hours to catch the sporting action live. There are endless discussions among fans on social media on the performance of the teams and players. Passion and emotions run high during such discussions.
There is no doubt whatsoever that the coronavirus has caused the biggest disruption in sports. The biggest casualty, in term of size of the tournament, has been the Olympics. Along with many other tournaments, the Tokyo Games were of course postponed to 2021, which affected preparation and overall lives of around 11,000 Olympic and 4,400 Paralympic athletes.
The Tokyo Olympics 2020 was an event we were looking forward to as a family. It’s an age-old family tradition to huddle together in the living room and watch the Olympic games. Now, it’s another year long wait.
Sports genes run in my family, from my grandparents to my parents, my siblings and even my extended family. One of my fondest childhood memories is swimming in the river Periyar near my home in Aluva in the district of Ernakulam, Kerala, India. Since we stayed on a riverbank, my father took it upon himself to teach the three of us swimming. But as a child, I had a fear of water. While my brother and father enjoyed their swim in the river, my sister and I would sit on the steps, dipping our feet in the water. Our father never forced us to join in. The fun my brother and father had, eventually pulled us into the water and the rest is history!
To improve our swimming techniques, the three of us were enrolled into a swimming club. Within a month of training, the ‘Orison-trio’ enrolled for the District Championship with much persuasion from our then coach. The seriousness of the competition hadn’t dawned upon us then and that is what made the entire trial a great experience. I participated in the under-12 category while by brother and sister represented themselves in the under-14 and under-10 categories, respectively. In my very first event, I defeated the then State champion who was competing with me. Words cannot describe the feelings that I had following that win! Soon the three of us entered the State championship and later won medals at the national level.
My siblings and I have been really fortunate to have supportive parents. They dedicated much of their time and energy into getting us out of bed and driving us around for practice sessions and competitions all over the country. Not everyone is as fortunate.
Arthanas Matongo is a kanthari alumnus from 2017. He hails from a family in Zimbabwe that opposed sports due to religious reasons. As a young boy he used to run long distances to reach his school and little did he know that the anger and pain he felt as a child would lead him to become a world-renowned athlete. He learned to vent his anger through running. Later, he became a marathon runner who was trained and mentored by eminent coaches.
He was born in the rural areas of Zimbabwe, in a poor family that suffered tremendously because of forced child marriages. As a teenager, he lost his 14-year-old childhood girlfriend to a child marriage. She was forcefully married off to a local businessman in exchange for few cattle to save her family from a crisis.
Along with many others, his sisters were at the receiving end of child marriage. The night his elder sister was given away as a bride against her will, she committed suicide. Few years later, his other sister was married off to a man old enough to be her grandfather. His third sister was married off at the age of 16 and was later diagnosed with HIV. His youngest sister died because of HIV/AIDS leaving her 4 children to Arthanas’s care.
The lives of 60% of teenage girls from the marginalized communities of Zimbabwe are at risk due to forced child marriages. In Zimbabwe, teenage girls are forced to marry due to the religious beliefs of various sects. Church elders conduct virginity tests even on 12 year old girls so that older men in the church could choose ‘virgin’ girls to become their wives.
Arthanas took it upon himself to bring a cultural change and save the teenage girls from child marriage.
Attending the kanthari course in 2017 helped Arthanas to channel his aspirations into a project. In 2017, he founded ‘Waruka Academy’ which trains young girls in various sports such as athletics, gymnastics, hockey, etc. The practical exposure gained from kanthari enabled him to start his sports academy which has developed several outstanding female athletes.
Sports gave these girls wings to fly and pursue their dreams. It taught them to fight for themselves and not surrender to their family’s compulsion to get married. Through his initiative, Arthanas envisions a country where forced child marriage no longer exists.
For some, sports is a form of entertainment or a hobby. For others it is a diversion from their mundane lives. While for a fortunate few, like Arthanas, sports is used to empower and create change.
As Nelson Mandela once said, “Sports has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand.
Sports can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”