Actually more than any national institution, I think what will hold back some of the emerging talent will be their own parents. And you cant really blame the parents, playing any kind of sport and becoming a pro is infinitely super hard. And in Asian culture, there is a deep respect kids have for their parents, they will do anything they say. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing kids should respect and look after their parents, something the west is clearly lacking.
Yeah, it's just so difficult to change the culture around it. How do you convince your often extremely conservative and traditional parents that pursuing athletics is better than trying to get into IIT Banglore or getting a job working for Microsoft in Mumbai? You can't, the common cultural support of athletics isn't there - or at least isn't anywhere close to cricket. It isn't like the US where guided, often well funded and officially supported sports are part of schooling life like in the west.
That kind of person will always block athletic aspirations of an athlete. The dirt poor farmer type won't. In Western countries it's similar I had a cousin with a son with potential who was recruited by pro clubs in soccer and the first thing his executive father said was do you know what the odds of making it in DI European soccer?
Needless to say his son was never enrolled in a soccer academy and he ended up playing on a semi pro D IV team.
Yeah, it's just so difficult to change the culture around it. How do you convince your often extremely conservative and traditional parents that pursuing athletics is better than trying to get into IIT Banglore or getting a job working for Microsoft in Mumbai? You can't, the common cultural support of athletics isn't there - or at least isn't anywhere close to cricket. It isn't like the US where guided, often well funded and officially supported sports are part of schooling life like in the west.
That kind of person will always block athletic aspirations of an athlete. The dirt poor farmer type won't. In Western countries it's similar I had a cousin with a son with potential who was recruited by pro clubs in soccer and the first thing his executive father said was do you know what the odds of making it in DI European soccer?
Needless to say his son was never enrolled in a soccer academy and he ended up playing on a semi pro D IV team.
It’s a chicken and egg problem and will sort itself out over time just like it did with cricket.
A lot of cricket talent in those countries. There's a strong correlation between javelin and fast bowling to my understanding.
It's the cricket connection - but not really anything to do with bowling (by law of the game) that is done with the straight arm (aka no bend in the elbow).
But throwing a ball (similar to outfielding in baseball) is a huge part of cricket - it's just something I would guess a lot of kids do growing up there and no shock that eventually some would go on to be great javelin throwers etc
That kind of person will always block athletic aspirations of an athlete. The dirt poor farmer type won't. In Western countries it's similar I had a cousin with a son with potential who was recruited by pro clubs in soccer and the first thing his executive father said was do you know what the odds of making it in DI European soccer?
Needless to say his son was never enrolled in a soccer academy and he ended up playing on a semi pro D IV team.
It’s a chicken and egg problem and will sort itself out over time just like it did with cricket.
And if it doesn’t with other sports, it’s not that big a deal. Sports are just entertainment like the movies but with people running around a ball or something instead. Global sports have a rather modest geopolitical goodwill value if at all for a country.
They need a world class coach to move in and set up some sort of academy, where they scout the best talent in the country - and prepare them for 5-10 years time. Surely there's a rich Indian distance running fan out there whose willing to fund this?
How are they so good in the javelin? Pakistan had someone up there also.
The event used to be dominated by guys from Finland and the Baltic countries.
It Goes in Cycles Finland To Have lots of Great Distance Runners and won many Olympic Medals in Distance Running Then They Stopped and focused on The Javelin.
India has The Population, but like Everybody can They Compete with Ethiopia and Kenya in the Distances or USA and Jamaica in the Sprints?