The International Youth Day is celebrated on 12th August every year, to recognize and promote the importance of youth and their contributions to society. The day also aims to build awareness on the challenges faced by youth in the different realms of their lives. This celebration provides an opportune moment to delve into the importance of active participation in sports, reflecting on the many positive impacts it has on youth and the challenges they face when it comes to their involvement in sports.
A pathway to holistic growth through sports
The upsides of participating in sports for a young person are no secrets. Sports allow individuals to lead a healthy life, imbibe core values and build important soft-skills, thus aiding in holistic development.
Engaging in sports can help youth in maintaining both their physical and mental well-being. Involvement in sports and physical activities is linked to a range of physical health advantages, especially crucial for youth. These include enhanced bone health, improved cardiovascular fitness, and a reduced risk of conditions like cancer and diabetes. Moreover, active participation in sports contributes to the enhancement of their mental health as well, resulting in reduced likelihood of anxiety and stress, elevated self-esteem, and improved cognitive performance.
Instilling core values among youth holds significance due to their stage of development, during which adopting values can significantly shape their character. This underscores the importance of their involvement in sports, which can help them internalize values such as respect, equality, inclusion, integrity, perseverance, courage, among others, thus contributing to their personality.
Encouraging youth to participate in different types of sports is important as that introduces them to new skills, like working collaboratively, communicating clearly, taking responsibility and paying attention to detail. These skills also make youth more goal driven and disciplined. Furthermore, this process nurtures their personal development, a vital aspect enabling them to navigate life seamlessly and continue working towards the attainment of their aspirations.
Hurdles in youth participation in sports
Having talked about the benefits of sports, it is only right to shed some light on the challenges that youth face when engaging in sports. These obstacles include limited resources, gender biases, and family and societal pressure. Youth, particularly from the marginalized sections, can lack support from their families and society to participate in sports. The traditional roles and responsibilities often outweigh the sporting pursuits of youth, especially those from marginalized sections.
A lack of proper equipment, facilities, coaching staff, mentors and even insufficiency of funds, play a role in subduing the hopes of youth to follow their sporting passions. Cultural and financial constraints often lead families to prioritize higher education over sports, as playing sports is frequently perceived as a luxury and an unnecessary expenditure. Additionally, there exists a widespread lack of awareness regarding the importance of sports participation and the array of benefits it brings forth, creating multiple barriers for youth to participate in sports.
Oftentimes, women and girls face the harsher brunt of these challenges due to the stigmatization of their participation in sports, their restricted mobility, domestic responsibilities and societal expectations centred around marriage.
To strive for a more equitable world and ensure that the potential of the youth is not squandered, these issues must be tackled.
Creating avenues for youth participation in sports
In order to ensure an equal access to participation in sports, moving away from the conventional approach to sports is imperative. While promoting healthy competition remains valid, the disproportionate emphasis on competition sometimes takes away from the true spirit of sports, almost making it exclusive and accessible to only a select few.
Pro Sport Development (PSD) has been actively working to promote this approach and create a space where participation in sports is not considered to be a burden, and can be accessed by all. Through its flagship program, Community Sports Program (CSP), PSD creates an equal platform for youth from marginalized communities in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, to participate in sports, through its sport-based sessions supported by a carefully curated multi-sport curriculum. The curriculum includes games and activities that have been adapted and modified to ensure accessibility and inclusivity for all.
To further make participation in sport accessible, the program includes games that do not require excessive equipment or specific infrastructure. Additionally, the CSP is delivered by a team of well-trained facilitators, who not only offer coaching assistance but also play an active role in mentoring and guiding youth as needed.
Community Table Tennis (CTT) is another program led by PSD in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, among youth from disadvantaged sections. The program makes use of table tennis as a tool to promote gender sensitivity among the participating youth, creating an environment conducive to questioning and challenging gender-related roles and preconceptions. A key stereotype addressed by the program is the perception that sports are not suitable for women and girls. Employing a mixed-gender approach and incorporating sessions on gender sensitivity, the program effectively confronts prevailing gender biases among the youth, while also promoting the active engagement of girls and women in sports.
Another way in which PSD has been creating opportunities for youth to participate in sports has been through their empowerment as peer leaders. In collaboration with KickOff Solutions, PSD introduced a scholarship for a period of two years to empower young women belonging to the marginalized sections. The recipients of this scholarship were five girls, who have been active participants of PSD’s sport-based programs in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. These peer leaders have been assisting in delivering sessions for the CSP and CTT programs led by PSD, inspiring other youth members of their communities, particularly girls, to participate in sports. This approach of creating role models effectively challenges pre-conceived notions about sports being a distraction in the lives of youth.
Looking ahead
Through endeavors like the CSP, CTT, collaborative scholarships, and various other initiatives, PSD remains steadfast in its mission to amplify the significance of sports and physical activity, elucidating their potential impact on youth. Whether fostering all-encompassing development via soft skills, nurturing personal growth through value adoption, or instilling awareness about gender sensitivity and inclusivity, PSD’s unwavering commitment stands as a beacon of positive change in the realm of youth engagement. The example set by PSD paves the way for us to forge ahead, making sports more accessible to youth and empowering them to capitalize on the abundant benefits sports offer, thereby promoting their overall development.