From a very young age, a number of athletes dream of representing India at the highest level of sport. However, a lot of this talent wanes over time, with key factors being the lack of structured tracks for athlete development and representation along with fewer opportunities for career advancement.
While India houses one of the largest youth populations, the success rate in global sporting events is still not proportionate, bringing to light a stark dichotomy. As much as 66% of our population is represented by youths, but only 10% of it engages in sports.
Even within this limited share, the potential of talent at the grassroots remains passive due to fewer opportunities for conventional exposure. Such talent, in comparison to elite athletes, hasn’t been able to garner an equal measure of support, with the latter making more progress through focused backing and investments.
What is required is greater collaboration and equality in action — where public and private institutions, corporates, and entrepreneurs pool efforts to improve the sports ecosystem. This, along with the right balance of guidance across funding, wellness, training, and opportunity, is of prime importance to promote sports at the grassroots.
Globally, the sports industry contributes 0.5% to GDP, while in India it stands at only 0.1%. Similarly, while the global average for contribution to sports-related employment is 2-4%, India’s share is notably lower, at 0.5%. This gap is on account of how global institutions, corporates, and academies, etc. have partnered to dedicatedly work towards grassroots development. The Laureus Sports for Good Foundation is a shining example of how corporate houses like Daimler and Richemont came together to build a global Laureus Sport for Good platform, showcasing some of the best talent from the sporting world.
At a local level though, India faces something far more fundamental but complex at the same time. The lack of interventions during early education years, such as quality exposure, interlinked competitions from school to higher ranks, and focused development programmes with the best coaches, are causing athletes to slip away from the talent pool at the preliminary stages.
Before foraying into professional training, more focus needs to be placed on promoting sports as a viable and inspiring career path, and this is where corporate involvement becomes crucial. Their investments need to grow beyond funding, to initiatives that drive enthusiasm for sports — local community centres, integration of sports as course modules, health literacy programmes, and sports facilities in and outside schools to name a few. Additionally, early investment in sports science assessments, when seamlessly integrated with India’s grassroots ecosystem, can help track and enhance young athletes’ progress, ensuring they receive the right guidance at the right time.
The lack of a robust sports ecosystem results in a country needing to battle larger societal issues like youth inclusion, collaboration, and well-being. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which have become a global benchmark, also directly implicate the importance of youth sports towards the overall health and well-being of society.
While India’s National Sports Federation — with a primary focus on elite development and performance — has institutional guidelines for sports, corporate support can prove useful in drawing out similar pathways for grassroots talent. With greater resources and innovation at their disposal, they can provide for improved local infrastructure, advanced equipment, modern training techniques, and systematic competition structures.
Many of Dream Sports Foundations’ partnerships have helped integrate backward and forward linkages to complete the current chain of actions in the Indian sports ecosystem — starting from talent identification at the institutional level to high performance development programmes for each sporting discipline.
When we teamed up with the Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools (BBFS), we saw this impact come through. A young boy of 15, Manbhakupar, was identified by the school in 2019 in Meghalaya. After a residency at the BBFS, he emerged as the youngest goalscorer in the U-21 development league. He then went on to help India lift the SAFF U-16 Cup, and is now part of the national team. This wholesome journey was made possible primarily due to talent identification, and the provision of a platform to showcase that talent.
If we want to nurture grassroots athletes, the corporate sector’s involvement in sports development can’t merely be seen as philanthropic — it needs to be an active investment in the form of continued support. We need to minimise the gap between potential and opportunity, and together build road maps that considerably enhance early stage performance.
While this is just one step in the right direction, more companies need to dip their ink to help write India’s sporting future, and make us a global sports powerhouse.