Sports – A Career or Just an Extra Curricular Activity in India?

A career in sports – Sweat, grit and immense discipline!
In India, it is natural for a parent or a student to think twice before taking up sports as a career. This is mainly because of the perceived uncertainty that a sportsperson has to constantly battle within their lives. Parents want their children to choose a more tangible profession that guarantees a job and a sustained growth over a period of time. This concern, many times create and undue pressure on the child to bank upon on Plan B – purely in academic background, so that he/she can have an alternative to rely on. worse still is making your primary interest itself into a plan-B and eventually let go!

As much as parents want their children to pursue a profession that will be rewarding and stable in the long run, the approach to this is armed with rudimentary information which forces them to deem career in sports or art as “unconventional”. It comes with the notion that sports is a high-risk career. Apart from risks of injury, competitiveness, and instability, there are many other factors which make the parents aversive to this field, especially in India. This includes lack of apathy within the governing body, infrastructure, lack of experienced coaches etc.

In India, sports is still a flourishing industry, but if you’re under the impression that career in sports is all about fame and glamour, there is a flipside to it. There is grit, perseverance and immense discipline that is required to be eligible for various international level pursuits. Also, one of the most popular stories that take flight is over coming failure and rejections until one of them shines. Sports today is no longer about a game on the field it is also about the popularity and the pride it brings. This confluence has turned athletes into sports stars and has sparked a need to skillfully manage both the players and the game.
Even if you’re not an athlete but still passionate about sports, it is still possible for you to pursue your interest as a profession.

Indian professional badminton player, Saina Nehwal talks about how difficult it is to be a sports person in India.

Some of the most fruitful and promising areas that one can explore are –
1. Sports Analyst
2. Sports Lawyer
3. Sports Manager
4. Sports Psychology
5. Sports Tourism

We understand that new unheard areas again bring in trepidation in understanding whether or not it is sustainable as a long-term career goal for your children. Be it Sports Analyst, Sports Management or Sports nutrition, we have a recommendation and a guidance engine that leverages reliable data sets which can derive a likely career trajectory for your child in various fields considering his/her interests, individual traits, aptitude and core motivations and many more quantifiable parameters.