After quite a while I thought I’d write a post again. I did feel like writing a post yesterday but no topic came to my head and no idea to write on either. But today the topic found me still in mood to write. So the theme is ” Why do people do sports and games? ”
Hmm?
If I asked the same question from different people, most would give same common answers. And some would give quite different reasons. Common ones being to stay healthy, build character, to make friends, to learn to work as a team, to learn victory and defeat, to learn to respect others, self confidence,… etc…
But do we actually think of all those noble useful things all the time?
It is true that sports gives us good health, good qualities and they are quite useful for the optimization of day-to-day work. But initially or eventually to keep doing a sport you need a good valid reason than that. After all we don’t eat all the cabbage and carrot in our plate if we can dodge it. I mean after the time when you were a kid and your parents wanted you to do a sport why would certain people keep doing sports even when there is no one pushing you?
On the unique reasons category one of my friends said he does sports because it gives him “can do anything” feeling/attitude. And I do remember once a friend of mine saying she does a certain sport because it is popular and would look good on her CV.
I guess reasons are different for different people. Otherwise all of us would be either doctors or engineers or professional sportsmen and women if we reasoned the same.
As for me I’ve done number of sports for different reasons. I played Table Tennis because my dad took me for practices with my older sister. I did learn a bit of it and still remember. I wasn’t even as tall as the table tennis table at the time. And the coach was always shouting for all of us to bend from knees instead of bending from the back. I of course had no trouble bending from the knees. The only problem I had was when I did bend my head was almost below the top of the table!
And then I played badminton as a long term sport for almost 10 years. That too I started with tagging behind my older sister. Now that is one of the sports I love dearly. If one wanted the reason for doing the sport the right question to ask would be ” Why did you study so hard? “. The answer being ” So my parents wouldn’t say, Shane we think you need to stop playing badminton and concentrate on your studies more”. For all the years I’ve played badminton I didn’t win that many matches, but won or lost I remember enjoying each and every one of them.
And there is the brief period I did Athletics and swimming. Starting athletics was purely by chance. Swimming I did to learn it, being almost drown more than once. But I do like swimming now. Going to pool on a hot sunny day is so refreshing and lately pool had become the gossip spot too Discussing topics from “which course units to choose this year” to “who is going out with who”. Believe me a swim in the afternoon during the study leave is the best medicine to reduce the exam stress and keep you wake during a kuppi ( discussion and teaching sessions done usually by fellow students or seniors in university) session in the evening!
When I entered university I had stopped doing any of the sports almost for a year, during which time I couldn’t use sports facilities since I was out of school so I didn’t really belong to school and I wasn’t in any university so I didn’t belong to any university either. So in university I started rowing as a challenge, to see how far I could push myself to perform. I said I loved badminton, as for rowing I loved it more. Hard practice sessions, 7 days a week was a really tough schedule for me, along with having mind boggling 3 hour practicals on 4 days of the week as well. So with all that why did I row? I really can’t explain why. I think I rowed to feel the taste of winning and the satisfaction of rowing. It is a sport where if you worked hard enough, if you used your head good enough and did no mistakes you had a very fair chance to win. But most of all you had to know each and everyone of your crew like the fingers of your hand.
For me I love sports and they are something I cannot live without. When I stopped one I had to fill those time slots with another.
So why do you do the sport/s you do?
Cheers!