“The true sportsman is he who harmonizes strength and weak­ness in the interests of harmony and order. —Plato.

If we find two men quarreling bitterly in the street, we say to both. “Don’t bear any malice. Don’t fight like bulls. Take it in a sportsmanlike manner. ” When someone is downcast and wears a long face, we say to him, “Take it easy; be a sportsman.”. All this shows that sports teach a peculiar virtue which is called sportsman-ships—a calm, balanced and accommodating view of life.

Sports occupy a prominent place in the life of a nation. They are the ropes that support the health and vitality of a country. They spread the message of hope and good-will among the people. They form a integral part of education. They provide recreation as well as effective instruction in citizenship. They teach a spirit of healthy competition, justice and fair play. The lack of sportsman­ship in the world has seriously affected the cause of world peace and one-world government.

Broadly speaking there are four varieties of sports. First, there are the Athletics and track events—races, jumps and throws. In the second category, there ate various field-games such as Hockey, Football, Cricket, Volleyball, Basketball, Handball, Rugby, Polo, Golf etc. The third kind is concerned with indoor-games such as Badminton, Table Tennis, Tennis, Chess, Carrom, Squash, Billiards, Gymnastics. Lastly, there are vigorous games like shooting, Aquatics Boxing and Wrestling. All these games require the use of various human faculties—physical strength and stamina, mental skill and swiftness.

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A true sportsman is that hero of the game, who plays the game for the sake of game without any consideration of victory or defeat, very much like a ‘karmayogi’ in ‘Bhagwada-Gita’. Victory does not make him proud with exultation and defeat does not make him crestfallen. He plays the game with zest and zeal with a free heart and in a spirit of joviality and zest.

The first great value of sports is that they keep us physically fit and healthy. The prove the virtue of the old pro verbs—’Health is wealth’ and ‘A sound mind in a sound body’. There are people who consider participation in games and sports as sheer waste of time and energy. They little realize the truth behind the adoge— ‘All work and no play makes jack a dull boy.’ Sports impart robust health and mental agility.

Another value of games and sports is that they are ac excel­lent recreation. Our daily work is a great strain on our energies. We get tired and bored and exhausted by the day’s drudgery. A game of foot-ball or hockey or badminton or a series of exercises in the gymnasium banishes all fatigue, restores our lost energy and affords us relaxation. For the time being, it makes us forget the eating cares of life.

Games and sports are so refreshing that even spectators are enlivened by them If we view the many thousands of spectators, men women and children of all ages on our TV sets witnessing a Cricket or Football match, we find that they are beaming with excitement and joy.

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The Duke of Willington said that Napolean was defeated net at Waterloo .but on the play-fields of Eton. Obviously, the Duke underlined the qualities of team-work, discipline, self-controls and Self-sacrifice that the players imbibe in the play-fields and which lie behind all great conquests. Sports play a significant role in building the character of a parson. They are an excellent in concentration and alertness. A racer, a swimmer or a player must, like Arjun the great archer in ‘Mahabharata’, concentrate all his attention and energies in the game. He must not allow his concentration to be diverted for anything, for even if he takes one false step, he will lose the game.

Sports develop and encourage the spirit of healthy rivalry and competition. They teach us coolness, courage and self-control. It inculcates team-spirit, a sense of comradeship and discipline. A sportsman has to obey his captain and accept the judgment of umpires and referees. He learns to place the interests of the team above considerations of self. Thus, sports play a vital role in imparting complete education.

Sportsmanship is a quality which is not exclusive to the players and sportsmen or to the spectators, ‘arm-chair-sportsmen’ alone. This great quality is to be imbibed, inculcated and practiced by all in all the spheres of life. In whatever walk of life we are—teacher, lawyer, scientist, businessman, former, wage-earner, politician—we should follow the English dictum—“Play up, play up, play the game.” Herein lies the solution to the ills and troubles besetting the world.