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.

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