Back on a serious note the main headlines lately are all about the cricketers losing endorsements. Its again all about the Benjamin's!!!! I know i have touched on this before but why is it that the general perception is that it is money that makes or breaks an athlete.
If you ask all in charge of all the various sports why we are not successful they will say its because of the lack of funds, if you ask the BCCI why we aren't successful they say its because the players have an excess of funds.... when is the sports world going to figure out that it might not be because of money.
The reason why Indian sport is languishing at the bottom of all tables is because the people taking decisions are not accountable. The players are constantly blamed, coaches on the hiring and firing merry go-round but the people making the decisions sit pretty. It is a unique scenario we presently function in, either we have amateurs who sit in high positions in most federations and can't be fired because it is all vote based and not performance based, or we have professionals who absolutely have no idea. Again these professionals have got their designations through government office and has nothing to do with their criteria.
The biggest factor is that all the above can "afford to lose" so there can never be any headway. It doesn't matter if we are successful or not the officials will still free load their way to all the best events in the world and continue to churn out years and years of non performance.
Until the day the top brass have to earn their positions we can go no where as a country.
6 comments:
Hi Manisha,
Well Accountability is something which is essential but should not only be restricted to the National Federation but the sportsmen themselves also should be accountable, after all they are spending the tax payers money is it not.......
So what's the harm in the Federation asking for accountability from it's sportsman ...............
Coming back to what I wrote on one of your posts earlier, the only way to improve the system and making every person accountable is by promoting fierce compettion amongst Indians and then maybe you will find the bright spark which you can then pin your hopes for performing at OLYMPICS, otherwise you will continue to flog the dead horses in the hope of that ever elusive medal........
Many organisations have done it in the past and your trust is the latest to join this bandwagon.
Can you elucidate the process of selecting the sportsmen for training and identifying the potential in them followed by Mittal Trust......
Maybe some day I will come out of the viels of shadow and annonymity to show you where you are going wrong, provided you permit such a thing........
...... and remember there are many knowledgable people in the National Federations in addition to maybe some non performers as you mentioned, but, do give credit to those who run the federations after all were you not a part of the Lawn Tennis Federation which helped you achieve what you achieved......
hey anonymous,
In reply to your comment i agree that athletes too need to be accountable however they seem to bear the brunt of most criticism all the time.
I agree with your thoughts on creating fierce domestic competition, that will not only improve the standard of the various sports but also teach us how to perform at our highest level under pressure. However there are absolutely no steps being made in that direction. It is a tall order that will require a long term vision and team work.
The reason my trust has had to join the "bandwagon" is because there seems to be no progress being made and time goes by without anything happening. We may be making tons of mistakes but it is hard since there is no precedent set. At least we are trying.
Ofcourse we would be happy for any suggestions to improve since the aim is to improve sport in india.
I also don't dispute that there are a lot of good people in the various federations and it is a bit harsh to stereoptype... and we are working closely with a lot of such people. To clarify your comment on my tennis achievements... there will be no one from my generation of tennis players who will credit their success to the tennis federation. However that being said i think the federation has come a long way since then and hope that improves the tennis scenario in the country.
Hi Mnaisha,
Thanks again for a wonderful and prompt response ( I am aware that you do spend a lot of time travelling and attempting to achieve.........)
The irony is that the sucess is only attributed to the individual and the failures to the organisation behined it.THIS IS THE UNIVERSAL RULE AND IS MORE SO IN INDIA. This mindset needs to change as the FIRST and FOREMOST requirement if you or any other organisation wants to bring a change.
You still have not however answered my query on the selection process and identification of talent followed at your organisation. What is the methodology adopted for selecting your athletes?
Connections, achievements, will to aim higher, etc etc.......the list can go on.
Do you maintain transparency in the selection process?
What is the time period in which you make a review and reasses the potential and progress?
Well I have many more questions and definately hope you shall be able to reply.......
Well there is always a method in every madness and an analytical approach (which I am sure you also believe in)will bring in the desired results.
Bye
hey there... well i guess i won't call you anonymous since i know who you are.
Well i guess we have never met but anyway this is a good way to build a rapport.
The selection process depends on a lot of different factors... for the athletes that we are support with the Beijing Games in mind then they are already established and so their selection criteria is based on results. However they are all assessed at some point by independent consultants who we hire in various sports. These consultants who are very well established experts don't know any of these athletes and give us a fair and unbiased assessment.
For the selection of the juniors who we are attempting to groom for London 2012 we again get a shortlist from various sources including the associations and again hire consultants.
The time given to people in our charter varies on a lot of factors. For the older ones again it is result orientated and we have different people in the various sports to make this call.
The younger ones are given more time to develop and it is not result orientated yet their criteris is more focused on how they respond to training and overall development.
The transparency factor is as clean as it can come. When i see an athlete that would fit into our charter i then present it to my board for a decision the consultants who we hire are also on the call so their opinion is the most critical. So it isn't that i can sign whomever i feel like.
Hope this answers your questions. I know most of your questions are regarding one athlete on my trust and am looking forward to the opportunity to answer those.
Mr Anonymous
It looks like you are having a case of sour grapes actually you seem to be quite jobless endlessly trying to ascertain the insides of how a trust is run...how many other organisations have done what the mittals are doing for you to justify your saying they are joining the bandwagon for a change someone has taken the initative to support people who are doing well in their fields unlike the BCCI or other organisations who make tall claims but do jack....
I think all the federations have a bunch of jackasses(not a bunch but all of them) who dont know the ABC of the sport they are in but surely know how to play the politics of it really well.The problem of promoting fierce competition amongst Indians is that along the way the main focus gets waylaid and the grass root players remain at the grass roots with nothing to look forward to that is why in a country of 15 billion and producing we arent winning consistently at the top because even if you put aside 75percent of the money one had to promote it 74% of it would go into the wrong hands or maybe if you are a federationer the right pocket (the questions you pose cannot come from a sportsman) ....so let people who wnant to support sports do what they are doing only time will tell ...and of course like you said you can make a difference so dont be a coward and write come out and make a difference if you have the b_ _ lls to...
Dear Rajeev,
Call me any names but I wish you had read my comments on the earlier post "Money Money Money"....maybe you would have seen things in a different perspective........
Anyways I am not in a category which has a pocket either to the left or the right that you mention but am one of those who believe we could achieve much more than what we have till date........
I don't hold anything against you or anybody, call me any names or abuse me if I am spoiling your party, but remember that the ONLY thing that is the harshest part in life is when you are faced with the reality........ which is what it is and there is no running away from it........
........Believe what you may but that need not neccessarily be the the universal law which everybody should follow...........
And Manisha, I have no references to any of your athletes and niether do I have any conflicting interests.........
...........perhaps it hurts people when you ask questions and some will get offended for no reason like the poor friend to whom I answer(not in terms of money, but in ........)
And by the way Rajiv, I am not quite as JOBLESS as you imagine...........
Post a Comment