The Thrill of Overcoming Obstacles in Sports by Sahir Doshi

It’s the final set. The score is 19-20 to your opponent, and the next point determines everything. Sweat trickles down your face. Your opponent gets into position to serve as you tighten your grip on the racquet. He serves, and instead of diving forward, your stand there, your thoughts of conversations before the game swarming your head.

“You’re fat.”

“If you lose this, we breakup.”

“Please, for once, don’t lose ok? This school has suffered too much loss already.”

And then you snap out of your dream world. You dive forward, barely managing to lift the shuttle, as you crash and roll on the floor. Silence fills the sports hall, all eyes on the shuttle. You watch, sitting on the floor, as he smashes.

Sports. Something that is supposed to be fun, but is instead is a self-esteem killer, that is if you choose it to be. 9 out of 16 students were afraid of sports at a certain time of their life, said a survey taken by the class of 8RUp at UWCSEA East. Teenagers are misunderstanding the importance of sports, and instead using it to become ‘popular’ or ‘cool’. This is the time to go out there and learn, “the time for experimentation and getting good at things” said Jabiz Raisdana, an English teacher at UWCSEA East who is working towards a 10KM run in December, in an interview. This demonstrates that adults like Jabiz, who’ve lost 30 years worth of time are regretting that they didn’t venture out and explore the world of sports, clearly stating that if you don’t start playing sports in the teenage years, when will you?

At UWCSEA, there is a swimming unit in the PE curriculum. Many students struggle with this unit, as this sport isn’t their piece of cake. Mallika Shankar, a student in Grade 8 at UWCSEA East, said “Yes I do feel scared when i’m swimming because i’m not very good. It’s scary because sometimes people think you’re good but you let them down”.

This indicates that it is not your own fault for not reaching the ‘expectations’ of others, but it is the bystanders fault for thinking wrongly of you. This also doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t slack on your effort, but this means that you should continue to put in the effort, and “ just ignore the haters” said an Anonymous person.

Similarly, a student at UWCSEA Dover, Arnav Tapadia who is also a Grade 8 student, said, “I may not be good at one aspect of the sport, and people may judge me on that, and overlook the fact that i’m good at other aspects of the sport”. This continues to indicate that spectators, in fact everyone, overlooks the good in you and only focuses on the bad. We, as humans, naturally spend majority of our spotlight on the bad and mistakes than spotlight on the achievements and improvements teen athletes make.

In both of these examples, bystanders are overlooking the good and only caring about the bad, and this is part of the process of overcoming obstacles. Listen to those who respect you. They will motivate you. There are other ways you can be motivated. One student talks about the joy of sport, his name is Fayyaz Ahmed, who's also in Grade 8, he said, “My motivation comes from the sport itself, it’s a load of fun and the competitiveness is exciting and intriguing”. To add on to this, 4 of the 16 students who filled out the form said that the joy and fun of the sport motivates them. Vardhaman Lodha, a student who plays for the U14 Badminton Team at East said that his motivation is, “The fact that it helps me stay fit and healthy and it is a great way to get rid of stress from school such as exams, tests, etc.”. This reveals another great reason for students to be part of sports. School usually causes you the most problems in life, from stress, to friends, to dating etc. Going for a swim or shooting some hoops at the basketball court can help release these feelings. The best part of this motivation is that after you play the sport you will feel an amazing feeling, and get rid of stress or whatever was bothering you before.

When you come back from a run or a cycle that you had to drag yourself out of your house for, there is a special feeling that you feel. A feeling full of adrenaline, pride, and joy. Many students feel this when they come back from a sport. Anisha Uppal-Sullivan, a girl who plays for the Girls Football Team at East said, “When I do well and give my 100% I feel exhilarated and proud,” but then she said, “but other times when I haven't played my best or have been tired i’m upset with myself”. This shows that it’s ok to be frustrated with yourself after a bad day of sports, but if you never try, you will never get the result you want. The feeling is like none other, as I, the writer of this article, has experienced it myself. Many other students felt the same as Anisha.

As part of my interviews, I asked all the students for any advice for those who are having trouble with sports obstacles. Philip Haryanto said, “Be confident in your abilities, as everyone has a unique skill set”. Michael Tham, a Cross Country Runner said, “Don’t worry, you’re learning, it’s okay to make mistakes”. Hugo Howell, a Football player said, “Don’t listen to popular kids, they don’t know anything”. This is an another key point in the generation of today. Popular kids, aren’t popular, it’s just a mindset, and if you want to be ‘popular’, or want to impress them so that they don’t make fun of you or for whatever else reason, then you should drop it. Don’t let others judge you. Instead look at the bright side. There are plenty of people out there who will support you, they will be there for you, and they will care for you. If no one in your physical community is there, then there is always the online world, where you can meet and talk with others.

Teenagers are being over conscious of sports. They are scared of people and things that aren’t important. They are missing out on epinephrine, bliss, and delight. These feelings serve more than one purpose, they improve your mental-being by persuading yourself to continue to work hard, resulting in your physical-being also improving. So are you going to quit sports because of what the others said, or are you going to rise to the A team?

Citations:

Jabiz Raisdana,  English Teacher at UWCSEA

Survey on students at Grade 8 UWCSEA