Beyond Catching them Young: Nurturing Kerala's Sporting Talent

In the early years of a child’s sporting journey, much is spoken about exposure, opportunity, and parental support. Coaches and physical educationists often echo the mantra: “Catch them young, search them out.” It is a phrase that has travelled across generations, painted across banners of school tournaments and whispered into the ears of hopeful parents.

But beneath its simplicity lies a question that few dare to ask: once a child is caught, once talent is found, what next?

Too often, the answer is shaped not by the child’s own rhythm but by the ambitions of others. Parents, coaches, and well-meaning mentors may have dreams for the child, but these do not always align with the child’s true potential.

The role of a mentor or coach is critical. Their task is not merely to train, but to observe, understand and redirect, to guide the child toward the sport where they may truly flourish. Coaches should translate raw talent into skill, nurture confidence, and provide direction without imposing personal ambitions. Talent identification cannot end at discovery; it must be followed by sensitive nurturing, where science meets intuition and individuality is respected rather than moulded to fit another’s dream.

Parental Ambition vs. The Child’s Potential

Between discovery and direction lies a fragile space where many children are reshaped to fit someone else’s dream. Parents’ ambitions are seldom ill-intended, they are memory, longing, pride. But enthusiasm can become a map drawn for the adult, not the child.

The danger is not merely that a child is pushed; Instead they are steered without being seen. Athletic talent is not a single light that shines equally in every sport, it includes many lights: rhythm, balance, endurance, spatial sense and courage under pressure. Forcing a child into a particular code because it is fashionable, lucrative, or nostalgic risks burying other gifts that might have flourished if given space to breathe. Early specialization can produce short-term results; it often robs the child of play, exploration, and the chance to discover where their body and temperament truly belong.

A wiser path is quietly countercultural: listen more than instruct, watch more than order. Let games be laboratories, not audition halls. Use drills and gentle testing not to confirm an adult’s choice but to reveal the child’s profile. When parents partner with mentors who value the child’s preferences and combine that with careful observation, a career begins to look less like a performance and more like a becoming.

The Missing Presence of Women Athletes

Just as guidance can be misdirected at an individual level, systemic neglect has left entire groups underrepresented. Where have the girls gone?

Kerala once stood tall as a cradle of women champions, producing world-class performers and Olympians. For decades, the state’s athletes carried India’s relay dreams, sprinting hopes, and field event aspirations. Yet in the last two Olympic Games, the track tells a different story: not a single woman from Kerala qualified for Tokyo 2020 or Paris 2024.

The reasons may be many, but the result is undeniable. A legacy that once lit up school grounds and inspired young girls now flickers uncertainly and asks to be rekindled. This is not a decline of interest, Kerala still breathes sport in its school corridors, coastal playgrounds, and evening tournaments. Rather, it is the scaffolding of support that has weakened. The pathways that once carried talent from village meets to the international arena are now fractured, leaving enthusiasm without direction.

Schools as Sporting Arenas

For many children in Kerala, school was the first true arena of sport. The dusty playgrounds, inter-house rivalries, borrowed jerseys, and the cheers from classmates, these were not merely events; they were initiations into a world of discipline, resilience, and camaraderie.

Every sprint, every pass, every goal carried lessons far beyond the scoreline. The goalkeeper who took a blow for his team, the relay runner who passed the baton with trembling hands - these experiences became metaphors for life itself. Loyalty, courage, grace under pressure, and respect for others were learned alongside agility, endurance, strength and strategy.

School competitions nurtured not just athletes, but character. Inter-house tournaments, morning drills, and informal games during recess allowed children to explore their strengths and limitations in a structured yet safe environment. Friendships forged on the field often outlasted academic connections, teaching teamwork, empathy, and leadership in ways the classroom could not.

Yet today, this arena faces strain. Without trained Physical Education Teachers, many schools struggle to maintain structured programs. While enthusiasm remains high, the mentorship and guidance that once transformed playgrounds into nurseries of talent are often absent. The challenge is to ensure schools remain more than venues for annual sports days, they must be foundations for holistic athletic and personal development, where every child can discover their rhythm and realize their potential.

The Changing Landscape of Academies

If schools once stood as nurseries of sport, today private “academies” have taken up the banner. They have multiplied across Kerala - football on one ground, badminton in a rented hall, athletics along roadside tracks. On paper, this is an expansion of opportunity; in practice, it often scatters dreams.

The word academy carries weight, suggesting structure, expertise, and progression. Yet too often, what we see is little more than a casual coaching setup. A WhatsApp group announces practice, borrowed jerseys lend uniformity, and rented spaces become makeshift arenas. Well-meaning they may be, yet they fall short of true transformation. A real academy should offer more than training; it should provide a pathway - athletic and academic - where a child’s growth is guided, monitored, and supported.

The absence of qualified coaches and structured curricula exposes a deeper crisis. Children are drilled in repetition without understanding, in effort without evaluation. Talent is abundant, but guidance is thin. Without scientific support and mentors who measure as well as motivate, these centres risk becoming holding pens rather than launching pads. Kerala’s sporting spirit remains alive, but the foundation that once held it high is eroding. Unless academies evolve into true institutions with trained coaches, certified programs, and welfare systems, they will remain loud promises on fragile bases.

The Absence of Trained Physical Education Teachers

While private academies struggle with consistency, schools are hollow in their preparation. The one place where every child should meet sport - the classroom and playground - has, in too many cases, become a space without proper guidance.

Recent reports reveal that nearly three out of four schools in Kerala have no trained Physical Education Teacher (PET). In their absence, sports periods are often reduced to free time or supervised by teachers from unrelated subjects. For children in formative years, this means missing not only lessons in skill but the very foundation of discipline, fitness, and healthy routine.

This shortage is not anecdotal; it is systemic. Decades ago, PETs were central to Kerala’s success stories, many future champions were first spotted under their watchful eyes. Today, that chain of discovery is breaking. Without dedicated teachers to introduce structured drills, observe natural abilities, and record progress, raw potential remains invisible, and school sports festivals risk becoming mere celebrations of participation rather than nurseries of excellence. While Kerala celebrates its sporting heritage, the institutions responsible for nurturing the next generation are understaffed. Dreams may still exist, but dreams need direction and that direction begins with trained teachers.

Mentorship vs. Coaching

There is a subtle but crucial difference between coaching and mentorship, often overlooked in the rush to produce results.

A coach teaches technique, enforces discipline, and prepares a child for competition. A mentor does all this and more, they listen, observe, and wait. They see the child not simply as a performer, but as a person in formation. In the early years, this distinction can shape an athlete’s identity far more than medals ever will.

Mentors notice rhythms that escape the stopwatch. They see children excel in unexpected ways, celebrate small breakthroughs, and adjust guidance to suit personality, temperament, and physical attributes. Sometimes it is the PT master who lets a girl run barefoot because her shoes slow her down; sometimes it is a teacher who observes a boy’s stride during a march-past and imagines him sprinting on the track. These moments rarely appear in scorebooks, yet they leave indelible marks on an athlete’s spirit.

The finest athletes often carry within them the memory of a mentor, not necessarily the most formally qualified coach, but the one who saw them clearly. Mentorship is a patient art, about understanding the child as much as the sport. In the foundation years, it is mentorship, more than drills or tactics, that lays the groundwork for excellence, resilience, and a lifelong love for sport.

Drills, Testing, and Sports Science

In the initial phase of a child’s sporting journey, drills are not mere routines; they are revelations. Structured exercises allow mentors to observe patterns that reveal far more than raw strength or speed. Who accelerates naturally? Who sustains effort over time? Who responds to rhythm, and who thrives in bursts? These observations are the first signs of a child’s athletic profile.

Agility, endurance, and coordination cannot be assumed; they must be measured, nurtured, and tracked. Frequent testing, even in informal settings, helps mentors identify progress, detect plateaus, and adjust training loads. These are early indicators that shape the trajectory of a young athlete’s development.

Here, science becomes an ally, not a replacement for mentorship. A child with slower sprint times may not lack speed but could have a biomechanical imbalance. One who tires quickly may require nutritional or hydration support.

Physiotherapy, sports psychology, and performance analytics, once reserved for elite athletes, are now valuable tools at the grassroots level.

Research confirms the value of early, structured observation. Studies such as Talent Identification and Development in Sports and Games by Dr. T. Siva Prasad highlights how early testing of fitness, coordination, and maturity can predict long-term performance when combined with proper guidance. Similarly, Mahesh Pujari’s 2024 study on sports talent profiles shows how motor coordination and anthropometric measurements, tracked over time, can categorize natural strengths and guide discipline selection.

The lesson is clear: drills alone do not reveal the child fully. They must be paired with careful observation, structured testing, and scientific insight to help young athletes find the areas where they can truly flourish.

Systemic Gaps and Solutions

Kerala’s sporting promise is unmistakable, yet a quiet crisis undermines its full potential. Schools without trained Physical Education Teachers leave foundational development to chance. Private training centres, often lacking certified staff, promise Olympic dreams without structured guidance. Self-styled academies operate without curricula, welfare systems, or accountability. The result is a generation of children who are eager and energetic, yet frequently misdirected.

Kerala’s sporting future depends not on slogans or isolated initiatives, but on coordinated, child-focused systems that allow talent to be discovered, nurtured, and directed thoughtfully. The child is not a performer waiting to be polished, the child is a possibility waiting to be understood and guided.

Conclusion - Let Them Bloom

To catch a child is not enough. To spot talent is only the beginning. True sporting excellence emerges when guidance meets understanding, when passion meets structure, and when opportunity meets mentorship.

Kerala’s children are full of energy, curiosity, and promise. They sprint across playgrounds, leap into games, and carry dreams that could one day shine on the world stage. But raw talent alone is fragile. Without trained teachers in schools, structured programs in academies, and mentors who observe before instructing, that promise risks being misdirected or lost.

The state has produced world-class athletes - men and women, Olympians who once carried Kerala’s hopes across tracks, courts, and fields. That legacy still lives, but it needs scaffolding, systems, mentors, and institutions to ensure the next generation reaches the same heights.

Parents, teachers, and coaches must ask not just, “How can this child win?” but “How can this child grow?” Drill, practice, and discipline matter, but they must be paired with observation, scientific guidance, and above all, respect for the child’s individuality.

Kerala’s sporting future depends on creating environments where children are seen, understood, and nurtured, where mentorship guides talent rather than molds it, and where schools, academies, and families act as partners, not competitors, in the journey.

Don’t just catch them. Don’t just search for them. Learn them. Guide them. Let them bloom where they were meant to.

Reference

1. Dr. T. Siva Prasad, Talent Identification and Development in Sports and Games, published in the Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR), 2022. 
2. Mahesh Pujari & Dr. Madan Singh Rathore, African Journal of Biological Sciences, Volume 6, Issue 7, July 2024.
3. Mathrubhumi Online – Reports on school sports and Physical Education Teacher shortage in Kerala, 2023–2024.

Coming up next: SUNDAY FIELD & FLAME – 02nd November 2025: Kerala Piravi: A Land Born, A Spirit in Motion

Kerala Sports Day: From G.V. Raja’s Vision to Science and the Future

The Visionary Who Lit the Torch 

Tomorrow, October 13, The Government of Kerala and the Kerala State Sports Council will observe Kerala Sports Day, the birth anniversary of its founder, Col. Godavarma Raja (G.V. Raja). Though I share this reflection a day earlier, on a Sunday, it is in the same spirit of remembrance and resolve. This occasion is not merely about marking time, but about honoring a visionary who dared to dream beyond his age. It is in that spirit that these words are offered today.

G.V. Raja, the princely son of Travancore, laid the very foundation for modern sports and tourism in Kerala. At a time when physical culture was regarded as secondary to academics, he stood apart. He believed that sports were not mere recreation but a means to discipline the body, elevate the spirit, and prepare youth for leadership. His efforts brought organized games, modern stadiums, and global exposure to Kerala’s athletes. To remember him each year is not simply to honor the past, but to keep alive his message: that the strength of a society lies equally in its muscles and its mind. For the generations to come, Kerala Sports Day must be more than a commemoration. It should be a day of reflection and resolve, reflection on how far we have come as a sporting community, and resolve to build systems that can take our hidden potential to new heights. If G.V. Raja gave us the vision to begin, science must now provide the tools to continue.

Geography, Climate, and Culture in Motion

Across decades, Malayalees have carved their mark on fields, tracks, and courts far larger than the narrow strip of land they call home. Their names have appeared in national records, international tournaments, and even on the Olympic stage - achievements often out of proportion to their numbers. It is tempting to imagine that Malayalees carry some hidden athletic spark within them. Yet science offers no such verdict: no biological evidence confirms innate physical advantages unique to us. And still, the story is undeniable. Fragmented through anecdotes, victories, and fading memories, Kerala’s sporting presence has never been fully explored. Unlike the inquiries that explained the sprinting power of Jamaicans or the endurance of Kenyans, the Malayalee’s prowess remains an open question. Is it in our genes, our geography, our culture, or in the rhythms of our daily life?

When the world has asked similar questions of other peoples, answers have come through research, not myth. Kenyans dominate distance running, their endurance linked to altitude, lean body mass, efficient oxygen use, and cultural habits that make stamina a way of life. Jamaicans rule the sprints, propelled not by genetics alone but by a blend of explosive muscle fiber, structured training, and an island wide passion for sprinting. China’s rise came less from natural advantage than from state driven investment, early talent spotting, and rigorous centralized training. Even absence has been studied: African Americans, successful in sprinting and basketball, remained underrepresented in swimming because of historical restrictions and cultural patterns, not lack of ability. Everywhere, the conclusion is the same: geography, culture, opportunity, and history weave together to create champions. If Kenya, Jamaica, China, and America have been examined in this light, should we not ask the same of Kerala?

For Malayalees, the answer begins in the land itself. Kerala, clasped between sea and mountain, is a natural classroom of endurance. Along the coast, waves make swimmers, rowers, and fishermen who learn to battle tides from childhood. In the backwaters, balance and rhythm are perfected in Vallamkali, where endurance meets harmony. The midlands, with their slopes and plantations, test resilience with every climb and descent, while the high ranges demand stamina in daily treks to school or work. To this geography, climate adds its own discipline. The sultry heat forces the body to adapt, building lung capacity and cardiovascular strength. The monsoon imposes its own training: fields turn muddy, paths slippery, yet play never stops. Children running barefoot in rain soaked schoolyards learn balance and grit that no textbook can teach. What others may call hardship becomes conditioning, a subtle preparation for wider arenas.

Education, Policy, and the Lost Years

Education, too, has played its part. From the mid 19th century, missionary schools in Thalassery and colleges in Calicut and Kottayam introduced physical training alongside lessons. Natural playgrounds doubled as arenas where speed and coordination were tested. Kerala’s emphasis on literacy meant that communities valued balance: books in one hand, play in the other. Over time, local tournaments, inter school competitions, and trained instructors gave shape to raw talent. In this way, education became not just a gate to knowledge, but a corridor leading into organized sport.

Yet here lies one of the most pressing challenges for today. A major setback came when the pre degree course was shifted from colleges to higher secondary schools. With Plus One and Plus Two integrated into schools, students faced mounting academic pressure, and both institutions and parents began focusing narrowly on examination results. As a result, sports participation was encouraged only up to the ninth standard, after which there is often a three year gap during the most crucial period of physical and psychological grooming.

Earlier, being in college gave young athletes access to better facilities, exposure, and the chance to train with seniors in an ecosystem that nurtured excellence. The present structure disrupted this natural progression, creating a vacuum in talent development that urgently needs to be addressed.

Both the National Education Policy (2020) and Kerala’s Sports Policy (2023) recognize this urgency. They advocate integrating physical education into the curriculum, promoting holistic development, and bridging the divide between academics and extracurricular pursuits. Schools and neighborhoods must be envisioned as active sports centers, with trained coaches, physical educationists, and mentors identifying and nurturing talent from an early age.

A promising innovation is the hybrid Day School - Home School model, where students divide their time between academics and intensive sports training, with online learning bridging the gap. Private schools, with greater flexibility, could pioneer such models, demonstrating feasibility and attracting sponsorships, grants, and partnerships. Without such reforms, Kerala risks losing a generation of potential champions in the bottleneck of examinations.

History has already shown that even small nations with limited resources can rise to prominence through vision and planning. Cuba built a network of sports schools after its revolution. Kenya and Ethiopia invested in running physiology to make their terrain a cradle for world class athletes. Mongolia fused wrestling traditions with modern methods to create victories on the international stage.

Kerala, too, can follow such models. Every sprint across a paddy field, every climb up a plantation slope, every barefoot chase in the rain is training disguised as life. Here, movement has always been more than survival, it has been celebration, culture, and spirit.

And yet, unlike Kenya’s runners or Jamaica’s sprinters, Malayalees have never been studied systematically. The records speak of brilliance, but without research the knowledge risks being lost. Sports science can change this. It can measure what folklore only suggests - the role of physiology, climate, and culture in shaping Kerala’s athletes.

It can refine training, design nutrition suited to regional realities, and equip coaches with evidence based tools. It can attract funding, build infrastructure, and, most importantly, create a body of knowledge for future generations. Other small nations have already moved ahead: Sri Lanka integrated sports science into universities; Costa Rica partnered with international bodies to study human movement; and African countries are beginning to treat sports science as a necessity rather than a luxury. Kerala cannot remain outside this current.

From Celebration to Resolve

The truth is clear: Kerala’s sporting talent is no accident. It is the outcome of land, climate, education, history, and culture, a rhythm of movement carried quietly through generations. Yet talent without science is like a river without banks: it flows, but cannot be directed, harnessed, or preserved.

On Kerala Sports Day, let us look beyond celebration and memory. Let us call for vision. Let us call for reform. Let us call for science. For the Malayalee athlete deserves not only applause for what has been achieved, but also the tools to build what is yet to come. The potential is here, hidden but unmistakable. To reveal it fully, to nurture it wisely, and to carry it forward, modern science must join hands with Kerala’s geography, education, and spirit. Only then will the story of Malayalees in sport be told not as scattered fragments of memory, but as a legacy measured, understood, and sustained for generations to come.

And in asking for science and reform, we must also ask for leadership. Kerala Sports Day is not just a salute to the past, but a call to the future. The question still lingers: who will bell the cat? Government, corporates, NGOs, schools, parents - or the people themselves?

Perhaps what we truly need is another spark like Col. Thirumeni, a dreamer who dared to see beyond limits. If his vision is carried forward with courage, Kerala can rise as a land where play is not forgotten in the rush of exams, where every child finds space to run, leap, and dream and where the spirit of sport is not just practiced, but becomes the very soul of the people.

Reference List

1. Saltin, B., et al. (1995). Physiological factors explaining success in Kenyan long-distance runners. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports..
2. Morrison, E. (2002). Jamaican Sprinting: Roots, Culture, and Science. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press.
3. Journal of Sports Sciences (2008). China’s rise in Olympic sports: Policy, discipline, and training systems.
4. Irwin, C., & Feltz, D. (2007). Why don’t African Americans swim? Constraints, motivations, and opportunities. International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education.
5. Cuban Institute of Sports (1961). Policy papers on mass physical education and talent identification. Havana.
6. Ethiopian Athletics Federation (2005). Long-distance running programs and sports science initiatives. Addis Ababa.
7. UNESCO (2013). Sports and Physical Education: Fostering Global Citizenship.

Coming up in SUNDAY FIELD & FLAME – 19 October 2025: MANUEL FREDERICK: BRONZE, BLOOD, and the BROW that Guarded India