LESAProject

Any discussion about the state of Olympic sport in India quickly turns into a litany of woes. From cricket bashing, to corruption, to lamenting our attitude—khel [play] vs. study, to prepare for the future, it’s a never-ending spiral. The big change we hanker for won’t happen until there is change at the grassroots level—until you and I make sport a part of our daily lives. Together we can make a difference in sports, and become healthier and fitter, while having fun. Over the past year, I’ve tried to discover ways of "living" this change and sharing what works with family, friends, colleagues, and ...

Sports and movies make a powerful combination. Movies that celebrate the triumph of sport over adversity deeply move us. What started this post was an innocuous tweet: @iphonefresh: Invictus was beautiful. Sport truly triumphs over all. I instantly asked friends and followers across Twitter and Facebook for their "#favsportsmovies." The recommendations that zipped back—from people in India, USA, and the UK—showed amazing diversity and wonderful movies of varied vintage.   There are many recco’s here I haven’t seen yet and I'm guessing there are some you’d like to catch up on. If you notice any omissions, do add them in the comments. So here goes: @rajaramansport: Chariots ...

India has two powerful resources that can make the country a sports powerhouse by 2020. The first: a hunger to succeed. A majority of our recent sporting heroes are from semi-urban and rural areas. Many have overcome tough family situations and persisted with sport in the hope of finding glory and breaking a cycle of economic hardship for their families. The second: a large pool of young talent waiting to shine on the world stage. A majority of our young populace doesn’t have a fall-back plan; they don’t have social security or affluent families backing them. They have to succeed, and ...