Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Importance of Sports and Games” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Importance of Sports and Games

The ideal of good and perfect life is to have a mind in a sound body. This is recognized by all, as the best means of performing our duties. Body and mind should work at their best and they cannot do so unless both are in good order. The limbs must be supple, active and obedient to the will. It is only when they are sound and supple that we can perform our duties punctually and efficiently. The best way to keep the limbs fit is to exercise them in sports and games of physical skill and strength.

This indeed is the importance of sports, and there is no society which has not its own special kinds of sports. The proper end of games is bodily health and physical fitness. In the past, sports like hunting and fishing used to be mainly utilitarian in purpose. That is to say, men used to hunt in order to get food. But with the dawn of Greek civilization, sports came to be looked upon as a means of building up the body beautiful. It is common knowledge that the Greeks excelled in shaping the human body most gracefully and beautifully. The famous Olympic sports, held every fourth year, were proof of the importance given to sports and exercises. They have been revived from 1896, and are now held once every four years at various centres.

Sports and athletics have now come to stay in our civilization as an essential feature of human activity and their object is not merely utilitarian. While sports give shape and strength to the body, they. also instill the spirit of discipline and team-work. Games like cricket, hockey and football are popular because of the spirit of team-work which they inspire. It is said that the victories of the British Empire were gained not on the battlefields so much, as on the Playgrounds of public schools like Eton. This is no doubt, true. The discipline that is gained in playing up the games in invaluable in later life. It makes for a life of co-operation and team work, which could be used for building up a great society and a nation.

It is right, therefore, that our young men and women should take active part in sports and athletic tests. It is good that our educational institutions encourage sports by organizing matches and awarding prizes and trophies. Every young person should play some type of game. Sports, like military training should be made compulsory. Indeed sports are the basis for building up a military spirit and discipline.

The habit of taking part in games and sports in good in several ways. Apart from making us strong, healthy and fit, it teaches us how to use our energy in the right way. This energy can be collectively directed for nation-building activities.

But all good things sometimes become bad. This is a strange but true fact about human activities. Sports in particular, should be so organized that they will not interfere with studies of our youths. Like politics, sports too can be a source of danger. It is common to see that many young boys and girls in schools and colleges spoil their academic career by taking excessive interest in sports. They become attached to sports too passionately. They think of sports, discuss sports and dream of sports. But life is not all sports. It is only a part though a very important part of life.

Besides, it is also common that young people are becoming addicted to sports and engage themselves in undesirable rivalries. Sometimes the crowds witnessing matches become unruly mobs. There are violent scenes and bone-breaking in many matches. All this is an abuse of a very noble social institution. We must, in short, be on our guard against the abuses of sports.

Sports and games should be made compulsory in our schools and colleges. But this does not mean that everyone should play cricket or tennis. But everyone ought to be made to exercise his or her body regularly and systematically. Western games have come to stay in India. Like English, we must make the best of them. But they are not very suitable for us. Our climate is different; our way of life is different. So we must use and revive our own sports and games in addition to Western games. Western games are costly as well as unsuitable to our climatic conditions. They cannot be made compulsory. But we should see that every Indian child is trained Physically in some suitable form of sports. This alone will ensure national health which is the source of national wealth.