While I was growing up I liked to play outdoor games. Luckily for my friends and me, our homes were situated near a school that had a big field. In my 15 years of being born and brought up in this particular locality, I never had as much fun as the last 5. Every evening, we used to get on to our bicycles and go off to the field with our skates, skipping ropes, badminton and table tennis racquets.
I had my first brush with sports around the same time, we had our sports competition coming up, and so I thought of participating in the 100-meter race. I practiced for 2 weeks, and made everyone's life miserable. I cajoled my dad into carrying a stopwatch and cycling along with me every single morning and evening. The d-day finally dawned and my friends, neighbors and relatives cheered me on. I did not win any medal that day but we still celebrated, because I had grown out of my shell and participated in a sports event (Mom's words). At the end of the day the only thing my parents told me was "Life isn't about winning, it is how you play the game." I still love sports and can spend an entire day glued to the television watching a cricket or lawn tennis match. Though there is one thing that I have learned, and that is, all of us have our strengths and weaknesses and sports is certainly not one of my strengths.
To play a game it is important to be a good sportsman, and children learn the basics from the adults they see around them. If the adults and coaches serve as role models, this interaction will slowly make them realize that the real winners in sports are those who know how to persevere and behave with dignity, irrespective of whether they win or lose a game.
Some Famous Sports Quotes
'In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept destructive criticism. Without 100 percent dedication, you won't be able to do this.'
Willie Mays
'I'll let the racket do the talking.'
John McEnroe
'Competition is the spice of sports; but if you make spice the whole meal you'll be sick.'
George Leonard
'The best and fastest way to learn a sport is to watch and imitate a champion.'
Jean Claude Killy
'When you're a winner you're always happy, but if you're happy as a loser you'll always be a loser.'
Mark Fidrych
'Whenever you get knocked down in the game of life, immediately get up, get better and get going again.'
Greg Hickman
'Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right!'
Henry Ford
'Why did I want to win? Because I didn't want to lose!'
Max Schmelling
'Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should accomplish with your ability.'
John Wooden
'If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?'
Vince Lombardi
'The only way I'd worry about the weather is if it snows on our side of the field and not on theirs.'
Tommy Lasorda
'We should not have to push you to work hard, you should work hard because you want to be a great player.'
Bobby Knight
'Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.'
Tom Landry
'If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf.'
Bob Hope
'Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -a desire, a dream, a vision.'
Muhammad Ali
'In the end, the game comes down to one thing: man against man. May the best man win.'
Sam Huff
'My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win... channel your energy. Focus.'
Carl Lewis
'Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.'
Martina Navratilova
'When I go out on the ice, I just think about my skating. I forget it is a competition.'
Katarina Witt