I also think we need to encourage all types of sport as much as possible. Take hockey, for example. If you see for the last 15-20 years, Mumbai has just one player at a time playing in the Indian team. There was Dhanraj Pillay, then there was me, and now there is Yuvraj Walmiki and Devinder Walmiki. But there is just one-odd player here and there, sometimes two, in the Indian squad. There was a time in the 1990s when there used to be five or six members from Mumbai in the Indian team.

Play Day: Mumbai’s iconic Shivaji Park is full of players but we need more parks and more games besides cricket. Pic/Satyajit Desai

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Today, there is no culture of hockey in Mumbai. There will be 8-10 schools playing in the inter-school hockey tournament. In inter-college tournaments, maybe just two-three colleges playing. Sports have to be encouraged more seriously in schools and colleges. Mumbai’s schools are taking sports as an extra-curricular activity. We need to make it an integral part of education in schools.

It needs to be thought out how to make it an integral part, whether to give extra marks in the SSC exams or to give additional marks to play sports to a certain level like a district tournament etc.

Talent Spotting: Former India hockey captain Olympic Gold Quest CEO Viren Rasquinha with OGQ junior scholarship wrestler Arun from Sonepat, Haryana

Sport teaches you so many life lessons. Playing sport is one of the easiest ways of teaching life lessons to our kids, a fact we tend to underestimate. Playing a sport also teaches you things like discipline, teamwork and communication skills. Most importantly, it teaches you to come back from defeat.

We should encourage a better culture of being outdoor people and playing outdoor sports. Kids need to utilise their summer vacations by playing a sport the whole day, be it swimming, football, hockey, cricket or anything outdoors. I grew up playing hockey in the bylanes of Bandra. When I was in school, during our summer vacations, I remember, around 30-40 kids playing hockey or football in a bylane. Today you don’t see any kids playing at all. They are all on their mobiles, which I think is extremely unhealthy. Kids know all the latest video and computer games but they don’t know how to play football, hockey and cricket! Due to this, we are suffering health-wise and value-wise. I think we need to get our kids playing outdoors more and it has to come from parents.

As told to Amit Kamath

Viren Rasquinha is a hockey Olympian and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ).

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