What it takes to nurture a talent
What it takes to nurture a talent
Sankar Muthusamy is the latest badminton talent to emerge. He won the silver in World Junior Championship. Indian Express profiled his growth.
1. He had to drop out of school in class 8
2. Dad had to sell his house to fund sports expenses (one shuttle cork is at least Rs 100)
3. Decided to practise from a small badminton academy in Chennai (can't remember the last time we had an international level player from Tamil Nadu who won tournaments)
4. Parents realised the need for non-vegetarian food and didn't shy away from providing it to their kids
As you can see the struggle Indian families have to undergo to reach this level. The first two points is a system failure - which ought to have been provided to a talent like Sankar long time back. Sankar's family had resources to fund his talent, but there are many like Sankar who are either poor or don't have a supportive family.
I played tennis during summer vacations for three or four years. The best player in any place I visited would be the ball boys, who are usually poor and not attending school (their families needed that income support). Imagine nurturing their talent and Indian tennis scene would be vastly different.
Link to the article - here