Who moved my playground?

Representation Pic

My daily commute is one where the streetscape paints a fairly representative picture of a city that is bursting at its seams. The swathes of mangroves and few-surviving salt pans offer visual respite for some kilometres, but otherwise, it's largely a reel of endless match-box-designed towers, construction activity, dug-up pavements, clusters of jhopadpattis and chawls, and pock-marked highways and roads.

These commutes also act as daily reminders of the state of affairs in a city, across diverse parameters. Recently, it reminded me of our general apathy towards non-cricket sports as we witnessed a poor show in Paris. My commute passes by several open-air spaces that are meant for sporting activities. While one location has a basketball court, the second has a running track with space to practise field events. The remaining grounds are cricket hubs; occasionally, I've spotted amateur footballers hustling to get free space. For a few consecutive years, I would notice school kids train in track and field disciplines on the athletics ground that made for a pleasing sight. Gradually, there was a drop in numbers. For a while now, the ground has been in no condition for any sport to be played.

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The other outdoor space, when it opened, was popular among sporty youngsters and seniors alike with a jogging and walking track, cricket pitches and a basketball court. I'd often see aspiring hoopsters engage in fierce battles. This once-well-maintained court is now in neglect; the hoops are in tatters while the floor is a scene straight from a post-earthquake tremor. The athletics ground for years now, is used mainly for weddings and festival-related celebrations. It is a telling sign. Where are the common outdoor spaces, with free access or even a nominal entry fee, where middle and lower-income kids can enjoy a game of basketball or volleyball, or a round of badminton with basic facilities, let alone coaching? The question draws dismal answers as we move across the city and the suburbs. The Guide section in this newspaper has, time and again, interacted with enthusiasts from across these ‘marginalised' sporting communities, and they have continued to reveal the glaring vacuum when it comes to access and availability of spaces to train, forget about having specialists to identify, mentor and hone budding talent. The scenario is worse for newly-anointed Olympic disciplines like breaking and skateboarding, both of which have a sizeable following in Mumbai.

As a few veteran sporting icons and seasoned journalists have attempted to explain, a key stumbling block is the belief among a large chunk of India's population that it has to be a toss-up between academics and sports; ditch one for another. There is hesitancy that sports can be a full-time career. The other big and connecting factor is funding. To pursue most sports isn't cheap; reams of newsprint have been used up to share tragic stories of great sporting dreams being doused due to lack of financial support. Hopefully, the rush of cash prizes that have been announced for our deserving Olympic medal winners will fire up some Indian families to egg their talented kids to pursue full-time careers in sport. There is also the case of lack of awareness. Former India women's team hockey captain Rani Rampal had a novel idea where in a recent interview, she suggested that schools across the country should have daily screenings of the Olympics for at least an hour to ignite curiosity and hopefully, interest in the long run. Worth a shot? But we are digressing from the city's sporting ills.

I may not be an expert on sporting infrastructure but any keen, sports-loving observer from the city will tell you how woefully inadequate we are when it comes to offering affordable facilities to pursue non-cricket sports. Why not have the same infrastructure and pump in money for other sports, where city talent shows an increase? When was the last time we had an Olympic medal winner from Mumbai? Google Baba might come to our rescue with the answer. There also seems to be a lack of an ecosystem to scout for and nurture young talent who have very little access to pursue their favourite sport, unless they belong to a certain financial bracket or are lucky enough to have supportive families/schools to nourish this talent.

Small but significant changes are required now, and not three-and-a-half years later, before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Civic authorities ought to create affordable facilities for all sports with access to training and coaching facilities. A level playing field has to emerge where a 10-year-old tennis prodigy and his family from a middle-class colony in Chembur feel confident that their daughter or son can pursue an Olympic dream, as any kid in similar neighbourhoods like Rio's Botafogo, or Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur.

As long as sport is viewed as an ‘Extra Curricular Activity' here, our city will have to wait to experience a semblance of a sporting culture, and even longer for those moments when we can celebrate an Olympic champion on an open-bus ride, like we did for our cricketers.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her.
She tweets @bombayana. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com