The news is that, Indian skipper MS Dhoni didn’t manage to get through his 1st year Under Graduation in commerce. When he decided to continue his studies the whole country stood up and applauded. Being a role model to many youngsters he has a responsibility in hand. A responsibility to make the right moves because there are thousands taking notice of it and following it. His desire of furthering his studies itself must be appreciated. It’s not all that easy for an International level player to spend time with books amidst the media frenzy, tight scheduled matches, star status and the many advertizing contracts.
Dhoni is an international cricketer and a degree or no degree wouldn’t make much difference to him. He has earned enough for his lifetime. He need not worry about his after retirement life. But what about those who dream of being a Dhoni and never make it there? There are thousands in that very situation. Sacrificing studies, leaving their home town with dreams in their eyes, getting rejected by selectors and returning home disappointed with no big achievements. This is a story of many. Life is difficult for those who would have given their everything to cricket and yet not successful. To earn a living becomes too hard. Not every person who plays cricket can make it to the National side. So giving up schooling for the sake of sports is no less a crime. I’ve come across many such individuals. In the name of cricket their academic career is ruined. Isn’t there a way to balance both studies and sports? There must be one. Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble are all examples for that. They have played top class cricket and they are also highly qualified individuals. They set the right examples for youngsters. They have shown that there can be a balance between academics and sports.
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is worshipped world-wide and is an inspiration to all. He gives a lot of prominence to studies and has always encouraged young budding cricketers to focus both on studies as well as cricket. He gave up schooling and flourished in cricket. But every cricketer cannot be a Sachin Tendulkar.
“Those who do not study are only cattle dressed up in men’s clothes”. Heard of this saying? It’s a meaningful one, isn’t it?
Wrong, IMO.
ReplyDeleteDravid, Ganguly, Laxman (not sure about him, didn't he drop out of Med School?), all have academic degrees and were reasonable students to begin with, but they made a choice, that of making cricket their preferred vocation. Just like so many others (the ones you were referring to) who make a similar choice. It was just that they were excellent at their choice of vocation. Kumble is an exception, the rarest of the rare, an excellent sportsman who is also an excellent student.
Where do I start? Well, sportspeople are specialists. Highly trained, highly tuned specialists, whose life revolve around sport. And you cannot be a specialist at one field while being a generalist at another, in the current day and age. Especially at a highly physical activity such as sport. Even more so because the career of a top sportsperson lasts for such a small time... You train yourself for ten years such that you have ten years at the top, and that's it, after ten years, it's gone. For good. And if you have neglected in the ten years' training, the ten years at the top will not arrive at all....
Also, what is the right example for youngsters? Budding cricketers, in my opinion, should not focus on studies of all things. They should focus on cricket and cricket only. They should give the game their best shot... But be sensible enough if they realise that they do not have the talent to make it right to the top, to change courses once the realization hits them. And indeed, intelligent enough to have the realization in the first place
And there are enough such sensible folks. I know of a guy during post-grad days who had represented India in age group cricket, but realised in his early twenties that he can possibly just about make a Ranji appearance or two eventually, but will never make it to test cricket. So he quit, early twenties, and re-did his career. His cricket credentials only helped him.
Also, of course, Viren Rasquinha. Excellent example.