My Humble Advice for Young Sportsmen

Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei *

Dr. Ngangbam Shantikumar Meetei, Mr. Asia.

As a sportsman myself, as an international body builder from Manipur I am very proud of the little heroes who hail from this beautiful land, who have conquered the whole of India and shine around the world in the field of sports and games.

I am so proud of their hard works, toils and the sports spirit. They have done so much for this little land called Manipur. Because of their hard works, spirits and winnings Manipur shines today all over India as the land of sportsmen, as the power house of sports. Not only in India, have many of these athletes made India shine around the world.

But the question here is "Are you safe and secured for your future? Are you sure sports and the titles you have gotten can feed you and your family? Are you sure you can rely totally in sports, especially in Manipur and in India?" These are some of the questions I kept asking whenever I think of these young generations of sportsmen from my state, Manipur. They have done so much in every sports and games bringing laurels for Manipur and for India.

We all are happy, the governments are happy, but for the fames, for the laurels and for the recognitions. Governments are happy for the glories they brought, not really for the sports personals. Who really cares when some of these famous as well as non-famous champions and stars go broke when they have no jobs, no money and no more good in those sports, once they used to be the best?

I have seen and known so many of these champions and stars of the past and even of the present who are frustrated and disappointed and living in deplorable conditions as they can't help themselves and their families. How sad once they were the talks of the towns, cities, all over the state and even all over India. But who cares today what they are, where they live and how they live.

Today they can't run as fast as they used to be, they can't lift as heavy as they could, they can't see the target as clear as they could, they can't build muscles as they used to build. They have lost the speed, strength, focus, physical coordination, clear vision and the athletic agility. They are no more needed by companies, companies which used to run after them to work for them. And many of them are already forgotten who they were and what they did for the state and the country.

Of course, some are lucky. Even they can't perform well in the fields they are hired as instructors and coaches for some companies. But how many of them these companies need?

May be a company can hire one or two or three at maximum. What about the rest? The others who are no longer good in their fields may be asked or forced to retire from the companies so that the companies can recruit new, young and better sportsmen. Because these companies need these young sportsmen to bring more titles and glories for the companies to compete each other and survive. The companies need these sportsmen not really for the sportsmen but for the companies themselves.

As early retirement pension or fund these champions of the past will be given some amount of money. But how long this early retirement money can support their families? That is why so many amateur as well as professionals, famous as well as non-famous sports personals are living in a pathetic situation. The main reason is very easy to pick up - the lack of sports welfare in our state as well as in the country.

Past is past. But we can learn from the stars and heroes of the past but living now in pitiable conditions, whose titles, fames and glories forgotten. Let's learn from the past and not repeat the mistakes. So my humble suggestion to our new generations of sportsmen is this – "DO NOT depend too much either on sports or the government for your future. You have to have alternatives. And don't rely too much on sports for your future, NEGLECTING your study.

Do your best in the sports you love as well as do your best in your study, too". Having a better educational background can give you better options in the future in case you cannot support yourself and your families through sports, you still can have other options to survive. Even you are good in sports how long can you perform excellent? To be a winner you got to be excellent in your fields. Our sport life is not that long as you think.

Today, as a world class body builder myself, as an international title holder I am still competing in the national as well as in the international competitions. Not only competing but still winning. I really love my sport, body building. I am enjoying my sport life. I have no pressure from companies or from others as I do this as my interest.

I don't rely my life on body building. It is just part of my life. For my earning I work as an English professor. If I neglected my study in the past I might have depended on body building for living. I don't think I would be happier with that life, I mean for myself.

Once I was young like you all. In my high school, college and university life I was as focus as you young sportsmen in my sports. I loved sports as much as you do. I loved yoga, weight lifting, power lifting, body building and other sports. I spent so much of my time practicing and training to win.

In high school and college life I won in many college as well as state level contests. Even in my university life so many years I was champion in my university. Not only in the university I was four times Mr. Delhi, three times Mr. Northern India and two times Overall Mr. Northern India. But I never thought of depending my life only on sports.

I was as serious as you in sports. But I NEVER NEVER neglected my studies. I hardly missed my classes or never neglected my education. I studied at one of the best college in Manipur, DM College of Arts and Commerce, and then Master, M. Phil. and Ph. D. from one of the best universities in Asia, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

I took both sports and study seriously. I did both side by side keeping a proper balance between them. How did I do? Simple! I simply used my time properly and worked hard I always tried to allot time for studies and sports in a balance proportion. If I could, you can do, too.

Finally, once more my humble advice for my dear young sportsmen "Do your best in your sport as you can. But never neglect your study. Do your best in both. It's all in your thinking and how you use your time. You CANNOT STUDY all the time or PLAY all the time. Good luck.