HOW SPORTS CAN POSITIVELY CHANGE YOUTH LIFE IN KASHMIR
The activities and decisions made in one’s youth are the foundation upon which later life is built. Unfortunately, there are children in Kashmir who, for a variety of reasons, are not receiving a well-rounded childhood. These underprivileged youths may be going down the wrong path in life. That’s where involvement in youth sports can help.Following are the benefits of sports which can help the youth of Kashmir.
Underprivileged youth often have multiple sources of stress to contend with on a daily basis. Stress is often what drives them to make wrong decisions, so any method that can help them to cope with stress is invaluable. Sports can create stressful situations, but these situations are structured within the game itself and are swiftly resolved by the end of the match. By putting youth into sports, it helps them to view the other challenges in life in such a way that they are able to segment and partition causes of stress into manageable bits. Each challenge becomes a hurdle to overcome instead of an insurmountable wall in their path. Regular participation in sports can decrease overall levels of tension, elevate and stabilize mood, improve sleep and self-esteem.
Sports teach youth more than how to play a game. Sports participation helps children develop social skills that they may not be learning at home and they can carry those lessons with them throughout life. Kids who play sports learn to interact with others, how to respect authority figures (such as coaches and sports officials), team-building skills, leadership skills and a clear understanding of winning and losing (and how to cope with losses). The skills learned through sports can help kids with personal relationships and careers later in life. By participating in sports they learn to control emotions – victory, defeat, happiness and disappointment, thus helps to cope better with the feelings.
When youth achieve in sports, it creates a sense of accomplishment. This is important, as accomplishment fosters self-esteem, a sense of pride and a can-do attitude. When a child participates in sports, it might be the first time in their life that they can share something that fills them with pride and makes them value who they are as a person. It further motivates them to participate at greater levels which can help change the perception to a great extent. Success and sense of pride permeate through all barriers, physical and intellectual and boost feelings of self-esteem.
Sports demand a level of commitment from every participant. If you want winning results, you’ve got to put in the time and effort, from physical conditioning and practicing skills to formulating strategies and building relationships. Once youth gets into sports and commit, they’ll start to see that putting effort into something always yields positive results.
Popular sports in Jammu and Kashmir include cricket and football along with sports like winter sports, water sports and adventure sports. Jammu and Kashmir has produced international and national level players including Gul Dev (first Kashmiri Olympian), Aamir Aziz, Chain Singh, Iqra Rasool, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Mithun Manhas, Abid Nabi, Parvez Rasool, Tajamal Islam and Palak Kaur.
Against the background of the Kashmir conflict and tension in the state, government initiatives in the sports sector are promoted specifically trying to draw the youth away from the conflict. The Indian Army also conducts sporting activities for the youth in the region through various welfare initiatives such as “Operation Sadbhavana”. Sports should form an important element in human resource strategy to use it as a tool for transforming the youth into self-confident, organized and capable workforce which can bring social change and economic well-being of the state. It helps in consolidating the progress made so far and provides excellent opportunities to emerging and promising sportspersons. It is only possible by giving it an industrial status to facilitate the holistic development of sportsin the state.
Sport will encourage a sense of belonging and identity; bring youth of Kashmir together in society. It will also bring people from different classes and backgrounds in Kashmir together – after all, sport is a universal language. At national level, it can bring unity and pride to a whole country and help overcome differences between youth of country.
“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you”
