For an aspiring Indian athlete, the biggest challenge is to strike a balance between academics and sports. In fact, when a child shows his willingness to play a sport, the first command from parents is to tell their kid to don’t get your education get affected. This often leads to a half-hearted commitment from children, depriving them a chance to unlock their full potential as an athlete. Imagine a hypothetical scenario where Lionel Messi’s parents are asking him to focus more on education than playing football.

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How Indian System Puts Academic Pressure On Children?

India has always been a nation that prioritizes academic success. There’s no harm in that, but this has also deprived India success on the sports field. For many Indian families, education is seen as the most viable and secure path to a financially stable career. Because of this, students often are always under pressure to perform well in academics. Children, who fail to meet their parents’ academic aspirations, get compared with other kids excelling in education.

It feels as if these society norms are deeply engraved into the Indian system that forces everyone to think that without a degree from a top university, one is doomed. That failing to get top marks in exams will result in unemployment or a job that underpays. Because of this, students are always forced into studied and there’s no number to highlight how many athletes India might have lost due to these society norms.

So if you are an aspiring Indian athlete, you must learn to fight against the societal norms, which puts significant emphasis on education.

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Why Pursuing Both Sports And Academics Is A Challenge For Children?

Pursuing sports and education can be a challenge for young athletes for a variety of reasons, such as:

1. Poor Infrastructure: Many non-cricket sports lack proper facilities, coaching, and equipment, making it challenging for young athletes to train effectively.
2. Parents’ Limited Awareness: As cricket hogs all the limelight, many Indian Parents are not aware of the opportunities in other sports such as Football, Lawn Tennis, and Athletics. So they don’t encourage their children to play other sports.
3. Risky Career option: Though sports open better career avenues, it is still seen as a risky career choice by many, especially in non-metro cities.

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Why Balancing Academics and Sports Matters

Even if a young kid doesn’t show signs of being a talented athlete, encouraging him to play any kind of sports can play a huge role in the overall development. Here’s why parents should teach their children to strike a balance between academics and sports:

1. Holistic Development: Sports is the best teacher. It teaches life skills such as teamwork, discipline, and resilience. Teaching these skills theoretically isn’t possible.
2. More Career Options: Students who pursue both sports and academics, have better career options to choose from. In fact, since a sport career is short, an educated athlete will have better options to earn money once he retires from sports field.
3. Mental Well-being: Engaging in sports can reduce stress, improve focus, and enhance overall well-being of a human being. Since the pressure of academics is huge, playing sports can positively impact academic performance.

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How An Aspiring Athlete Can Strike a Balance between Academics and Sports

1. Time Management

Every person, be it Elon Musk or Ratan Tata, who went on to become successful mastered one aspect in his life and that is to manage time. We all have limited time on our hands and what we do with it affect our life. So the most important thing a parent or the teacher can teach young children is to master time management. Young athletes should create a structured schedule that allocates time for training, studying, and rest. Prioritize tasks, avoid procrastination, and make the most of available time.

2. Seek Support from Schools and Colleges

Schools and colleges play a huge role in shaping the career of a student-athletes. If you are an athlete and you sports schedule coincide with your academics, you can always seek help from schools and colleges to offer flexibility and academic support. In addition, parents should also be open to make timely communication with teachers and educational institutions to ensure their child’s needs are met.

3. Set Realistic Goals

Goals should always be realistic. Setting goals, whether in academics or for sports, that are hard to achieve can hit the confidence level in a negative way. Also try to break goals into smaller milestones but keep a tab on the larger picture as well. Know your limitations and don’t put too much burden on yourself. Also remember that every one is unique, so don’t compare yourself with other.

4. Leverage Technology

Technology can be a valuable ally for young athletes. There are many online tools that can help a student-athlete with tasks such as diet plan, maintaining a schedule, keeping track of improvement. Similarly, fitness apps and video tutorials can enhance sports training.

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Success Stories to Inspire

There are enough stories to encourage both the parents and young children to see sports as a career option, even if a child is good at academics. Here are some examples, of successful athletes who excelled in education and on the sports field as well.

• PV Sindhu: The badminton superstar made it to the very top of the sport. She remains one of the best badminton players India has ever produced. She also holds a degree in business management – a perfect example that one can be successful in sports as well as in academics.
• Anil Kumble: The former Indian leg spinner, who holds the record of most test wickets by an Indian player, is also a mechanical engineering graduate.
• Ravichandran Ashwin: India’s star spinner, who recently announced his retirement from test cricket, also holds a B.Tech degree in Information and technology.
• Abhishek Verma: India’s shooting sensation, Abhishek Verma, is also a supremely talented student. Not only he holds a Bachelor degree in Computer Science, he is also pursuing law.
• Manasi Joshi: The Para-badminton world champion completed a Bachelor of Electronics Engineering from K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering, Mumbai.

These athletes prove that sports and academics can go hand in hand and that one can be successful in both fields as well.

Also Read: Parents’ role in balancing sports and education

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Final Thoughts

Though striking a balance between sports and education can be challenging, with the right support and planning, it is possible to excel in both fields.

Rather than forcing young children to choose between sports and academics, we, as a society, should focus on creating an environment where we can value sports alongside academics.

For young athletes, there should be freedom. Freedom of choosing a career they love and that can unlock their full potential. It can be either in academics or on the sports field.

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