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