Why The Sports Culture Should Be Promoted In The Developing Nations?

“Sport has the power to change the world… it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language that they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”

-Nelson Mandela

The most important thing which majorly contributes to a nation’s development is peace and unity and sport plays an important role in nation building by creating a sense of oneness and togetherness among its citizens. It helps to build a sense of cooperation and team building among its people so that they can unite together and work for the development of the country. Sports build a strong character and elevate the confidence level in the youths of a country so that they can face the challenges of the competitive world and emerge successful to contribute in the nation’s development. This helps the developing nations to grow tremendously.

Sportspersons like Milkha Singh, PT Usha, Abhinav Bindra, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Mary Kom etc. have achieved so much in the sports field and made India, a developing country proud. India’s name is famous nationwide just because of our country’s talent. One of the ways how sports culture helps a developing country is by making their presence known to the entire world. Similarly post Croatia winning the FIFA 2018 made its presence felt on the Global map.

These sport personsilities help attract revenue to their countries by way of advertisements, insurance, logistics and other sports related services. Events like IPL, Pro kabaddi league are examples which help to boost the Indian economy. When a society actively promotes sports into its culture, encouraging kids to not only play sports as a hobby or as a recreational activity but to actively, intensely compete it benefits the society from not only an educational, health, and societal level but actually benefits the country's economy as a whole. Sports does not only surround an athlete but there’s a whole team behind him like the management, coach, physiotherapist, sports analysts, a team reporter, financial experts etc. therefore, sports also help in the generation of employment of a nation. These individuals are as much part of the sports culture as a sports person is. The are the one’s behind an athlete’s or a county’s success worldwide.

The importance of sports in one’s life is invaluable and has many physical and mental health benefits. Sports also play a vital role in developing values and mutual trust. They help us to take instant decision and also enhance our thought process. The sportsmanship or the sportsman spirit which develops during sports, teaches us to accept victory or defeat in a graceful manner with being respectful to others. Sport also prepares us to face the challenges of life in a very positive and calm way. I have been playing Judo since the past 8 years and which is most of my childhood, playing Judo since a young age has taught me discipline and self-perseverance, it has helped me build a healthy character and competing in so many competitions has taught me how to deal with failure and how not to get too overconfident just by few victories.

Another aspect as to why the sports culture is necessary for developing nations is that these developing nations are unable to utilise the talent of their strong performers and tend to lose them to more powerful nations in global sport. Sports regulated by global processes can thus contribute to the underdevelopment of a developing country’s talent. Athletes from developing countries supply the industrialised countries’ markets with talent. In simpler words, developing countries who don’t promote the sports culture much or refuse to invest more amount of funds towards them lose their athletes to other countries who willingly invest more money on such athletes so that they leave their own country to represent them. Due to this a nation loses their valuable athletes who would have earned medals and recognition for them. One of the most common example for this is football, wherein the Europeans demand for high transfer rates and so the national football association imports players from developing countries due to the cheap labour. The football players leave their home country to earn more money which their nation couldn’t provide for them to represent countries or clubs linked to the national football association.

To conclude, sports culture seems to play a vital role for the development of a nation. Not only does the sports culture help an athlete personally with building a character, keeping them fit and healthy, maintaining proper discipline but also helps in the overall development of a nation. Hence, it can be seen that sports play an important role in shaping up an economy and government to promote sports in country. This will increase the business for local players who make sports equipment; it will also provide business to airlines and other transport business, media, brokers, and a medium of creating platform for young generation. This will lead to increase in employment and will increase money in the economy.