Sports Bullying

Sports Bulling

Based on a true story

Half an year of studying the great population of India has led me to the conclusion that most of the people are obese. This observation has led me to several questions most of them starting with why. India's educational system encourages sports strongly and many tournaments are held that are promoted by the impressive prizes given to the winners. So why then, are so many people refusing to take part in such activities and trying to stay healthy? A recent visit to such a tournament answered my question and a small part of me is disgusted by it. No. A huge part of me is disgusted by it, but who wouldn't be. It makes me sad and furious just thinking about it, because you see, it is not the child's fault for not wanting to join such activities. Under these circumstances I (who loves sports with every thing inside me) would loose my will to play too. All sports are based on team work, it may be team work between a mentor and a student or it may be teamwork between a group, the fact remains that all sports need teamwork and collaboration. The better the teamwork of a team, the more the team's chances of victory. When you go down to the field you expect your team mate to hold your back while you're on it, no matter how exceedingly good or bad you are playing. So, yes, it astounded me when I found out that the reason they weren't or did not like to play wasn't simply laziness (as they tried to claim), but insecurity. Yes, it was a type of insecurity that had been drilled into their brain by the very people who they expected to hold their backs while they were out in the field. This insecurity had been placed in their mind by the bullying done by the older and more experienced people. A child's mind is malleable and such incidences cause the child to withdraw from the sport or any game all together. I witnessed such an incident while I was at a football match and am embarrassed to say I didn't do anything to stop it. The girl out in the field was clearly inexperienced as could be expected from someone her age and she was trying to do her best, she was positioned as a defender at that time and in her inexperienced state was doing a fine job of defending the goal. At her left stood the most experienced defender and I could clearly see that the player was trying to make her nervous by telling her to keep the goal safe . At that point of time it was clear to me that this team would be the one to loose,(not that the other team was any better) because telling repeatedly a person to do her job in front of the other team was not only making the girl nervous but also declaring to the other team that she was a weakness. My prediction of the other team winning was proven correct as the most experienced defender let the ball slip and the goal keeper could only watch the ball fly in the goal post. As if the pain of the loss wasn't enough, the goalkeeper and the most experienced player (whom I deducted to be best friends with the goal keeper) declared the loss to be her fault. I, who was sitting quite a distance away from them, was able to easily hear their declaration and could only imagine the humiliation the girl must have been facing. This, my friends, is the reason why so many people in India refuse to take part in sports. People in India are ready to get aggressive over something as juvenile as a misplaced 1 rupee coin I shudder at the thought of the aggression faced over team members who lost their team a match. Sports bullying is the reason, the ultimate reason, why people do not wish to partake in sports activities and it isn't just the bullies at fault. It's the victim who is at fault for leaving the sport, it's the teacher's for ignoring the advances of the bullies just because they are good at the sports. These bullies don't deserve to play sports, these people attack the victims emotionally to make sure that they are the best and only ones who remain in the field. I've given you my theory now it's your turn to take action.

-Blue Jordan