A Life Beyond Sports超越運動的人生

文/普萊拉·戈比昌德 譯/鄧安兒

By Pullela Gopichand1

I’ve had second thoughts, and my second thoughts have done doubletakes, wondering why the cliche “do or die” has been allowed to go on this long in sports vocabulary. In three words,the most affirming of joys of sport get killed, and are replaced by a sense of bitter desperation to succeed that puts indescribablepressure on athletes competing at any level. Do-or-die needs to be replaced by play-and-live as sport’s clarion call.

我曾有疑惑，這種疑惑讓我猶豫之下再度思考，為什么我們能任由“不成功毋寧死”這個陳詞濫調(diào)在體育詞匯里存在了那么長時間。短短六字，體育運動中最確定的快樂被扼殺，取而代之的是對成功的苦澀渴求。所有運動員，無論他們參加的比賽是何種級別，都因這種渴望而承受難以形容的重壓。我們應(yīng)當(dāng)摒棄“不成功毋寧死”這句口號，讓“快樂運動，過好人生”成為呼吁運動的號角。

2 我見識過競技的壓力，也曾目睹，當(dāng)每個人自踏上羽毛球之路開始就拼命成為“下一個塞娜”或“下一個辛杜”，期待能變得多么不切實際。那我們又真的找到過“下一個薩尼婭·米爾扎、林達或賓德拉”嗎？并沒有。讓小孩子參與羽毛球、網(wǎng)球等運動，需要的只是學(xué)會這項運動，而非從第一天起，就被灌輸未來成為世界冠軍的想法。印度的青少年比賽要想發(fā)掘真正的精英苗子，就要做出調(diào)整。但教練的神情永遠(yuǎn)不應(yīng)泄露這一意圖，否則會讓年幼脆弱的孩子感到挫敗。

2 I have been witness to the pressures of competition and seen how unrealistic expectations can get when everyone is trying to be the “next Saina” or the “next Sindhu” when they take up badminton.Likewise, have we really succeeded in finding the “next Sania Mirzaor Leanderor Bindra”? No. Because young kids need to take up badminton, tennis and every other sport to learn the sport,not be told that they will be a world champion on day one. Junior competitions in India need to be calibratedwhen used to see actual elite potential.But this should never reflect on the coach’s face that makes young vulnerable kids feel like failures.

3 Education and the opening up of careers suited to different aptitudes and likings have made it possible that more and more eventually succeed when moving out of the system. Sports, on the other hand, suffers from a very low success rate.

4 In some ways, the very process of trying to become a champion is more beneficial than becoming a champion itself—benefits that far outlivea career that could go on till 30 at best.

3 人們上學(xué)受教育，能從事各種面向不同能力和愛好的職業(yè)，因此越來越多人在退出體壇后仍能收獲成功。而另一方面，在體育領(lǐng)域取得成功的概率卻很低。

4 在某種程度上，恰恰是全力以赴奪冠的過程比奪冠本身更為有益。此中益處，令人受惠之長，遠(yuǎn)超那最多只能持續(xù)到30歲的體育生涯。

5 若你對一項運動的堅持已超出必要的程度，這種益處就會減弱，堅持下去甚至?xí)兊糜泻ΑＲ驗?，如果你的身體條件已不適合比賽，但你仍堅持留下，這時候你就不可能開始另一番事業(yè)。于是，你會感到茫然失措，這是很常見的事情。

5 The value of this diminishes when you hang on to a sport more than is necessary, where it turns detrimental, as it is not possible to start a new career if one overstays their welcomein sports.Feeling lost then is a common occurrence.

6 So in my opinion the answer lies in the way we look at sports, and identify talent. As a matter of fact, the words talent identification should not be spoken of at an early age and scientific sporting analysis should not be done at a young age as is the norm.

7 Instead of this, imagine a scenariowhere children are exposed to several sports, grow a healthy relationship with physical activity, and then we use sports science at age of 17 or 18 to check if the kids have the potential to be worldbeaters or not. This will ensure that only those who have a realistic chance to make it to the top at the world level continue chasing the difficult dream beyond 17/18, even accounting for late bloomers, whose potential will be clear by this age.

8 This could change for some sports,

6 所以，在我看來，問題的答案在于我們怎么看待體育運動，以及如何發(fā)掘人才。事實上，我們不應(yīng)在運動員年幼時就提及人才選用，也不該對他們進行科學(xué)的運動分析，但這卻是慣常做法。

7 不妨設(shè)想換個做法：孩子們自小能接觸多種運動，同體育活動建立起健康的聯(lián)系，長到十七八歲時，我們再利用體育科學(xué)去檢測他們有無潛力成為世界級選手。這能夠確保，只有那些確有可能達到全球頂尖水平的人在十七八歲以后艱難逐夢。即便是晚熟者，到了這歲數(shù)，其潛質(zhì)也已顯露無遺。

8 某些運動可能有所不同，但總的來說，到十七八歲時，你是已經(jīng)具備足夠?qū)嵙σコ蔀槭澜缂夁\動員，抑或是要另擇出路，你必須做出決定了。我相信，借助合適的運動員物色方法和體育科學(xué)，我們將能引導(dǎo)學(xué)生或父母做出正確的選擇，運用體育知識找到新事業(yè)，取得更大成功，令其受用終身。即便是那些頂尖職業(yè)選手，我們也應(yīng)該加以關(guān)注，為他們提供不同階段（如22歲，乃至25歲）的退役路線。but by and large at 17 or 18, the decision has to be made whether you are good to be world-class or you need to look at other careers. I am sure with the right kind of scouting and sports science, we will be able to guide students/parents to make the right choice and to use the learnings of sports to find a new and more successful career which would serve them their whole lifetime. Even top individuals who are in the system should be taken care of by giving them exit routes at various levels—at 22, at 25 even.

9 At each of these stages, we should have programmes which will ensure that these sportspersons are taking the learnings of sport and using them in other fields which are beneficial to themselves and to society at large.

10 Although sports itself has huge opportunities whether it be coaches,commentators, sports administrators etc, I would encourage sportspersons to even look at different fields altogether,not necessarily only from the sporting ecosystem. The exit from sports at various levels needs to be supported and celebrated so that we have more people using sports as a jumping board for bigger and brighter careers. The shelf-lifeof a sportsperson is short, unpredictable and hugely beneficial, but unless used properly it can be detrimental to his or her own growth.

9 我們應(yīng)在各階段分別設(shè)置課程，確保運動員能夠?qū)W習(xí)體育知識，并將這些知識運用在有益于其個人與全社會的其他領(lǐng)域。

10 體育界有大量就業(yè)機會，如教練、解說員、體育管理人員等，盡管如此，我仍然鼓勵運動員們放眼所有領(lǐng)域，不必把目光局限于體育生態(tài)圈。運動員無論在哪個階段退役，我們都要給予支持和贊賞，如此，才會有更多人以體育作跳板，邁向更宏大耀眼的另一番事業(yè)。運動員的花期短暫且莫測，亦可帶來巨大益處，但若運用不當(dāng)，可能會阻礙運動員自身的成長。

11 Strangely, and almost as a paradox,there are an increasing number of management guruslooking towards sports to offer and impart various business and life lessons, inculcatingthe importance of playing a sport. Several successful people candidlyadmit the role that sports has played in their journey. It is uncanny that film stars, businessmen,politicians and bureaucrats are talking about how sports has contributed to their well-being and helped forge a strong character.

12 Even at the elite level, it is likely that professional athletes will struggle to have a clean exit path. And that makes us wonder as to why sports, which is an excellent tool for learning and excellence,imparting valuable lessons to those who are successful in life, can also lead to dire consequences for those who wish to make a career out of it.

13 The question arises that with such a high failure rate—in many sports, the Olympic quota for every weight categoryis one per country—what happens of the large numbers who miss out and do not get a chance even as funding is channelledinto their training.

14 The sad reality is that we cannot know which of the 95 per cent or more will be a failure. But it is certain that 95 per cent or more are surely going to drop out. We focus on the 5 per cent or less. At the policy level, we almost tend to ignore the existence of the rest—who play but don’t make it big—which is a huge percentage.

12 即便是那些頂尖的職業(yè)運動員，要找到清晰的退役路線也有可能很費勁。這便讓我們納悶：體育運動助人學(xué)習(xí)知識追求卓越，供成功人士汲取寶貴經(jīng)驗，為何這樣一個絕佳工具，也可能會讓愿以之為業(yè)的人承受糟糕結(jié)果。

13 體育是個有著高失敗率的活動，在許多運動中，各項目的奧運名額，每個國家只有一個。那么問題來了，那些錯失機會無法參賽的人，即使仍然獲得資助進行訓(xùn)練，他們又會怎么樣呢？

14 現(xiàn)實是可悲的，失敗者占選手總數(shù)95%以上，而我們無法確定這些人都會是誰。但能肯定的是，這95%以上的人最終都是要退出離開的。我們關(guān)心的，只有那些占總數(shù)5%以下的運動員。在政策層面，我們往往忽略了其余的人。他們也打比賽，只是沒有闖出名堂。但他們卻占了絕大多數(shù)。

1 5運動員退役不一定會經(jīng)歷一落千丈的痛苦或失敗。失敗令人痛苦，它打擊你的士氣，挫傷你的自信，有時帶來身體的傷痛；如若沒有恰當(dāng)?shù)仉x開，這種失敗就會開始使人消極，你真正從這項運動中抽身后，若還想繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)，或追逐新事物，往往已經(jīng)太遲。

15 The exit from sports need not be a painful/failure-related experience where it is akin toa steep fall. Failure hurts,it hurts your morale, hurts your confidence, sometimes the body and if one does not exit properly, it starts to make one negative, and when you actually come out of the sport it’s too late to learn or pursue new things.

16 If this was education, I am sure they would’ve changed this long ago.But we do not have a mechanism to make all of them champions under the present understanding of sport. It’s time for sports to adopt: Play and live and leave behind do-or-die. ■一落千丈的痛苦或失敗。失敗令人痛苦，它打擊你的士氣，挫傷你的自信，有時帶來身體的傷痛；如若沒有恰當(dāng)?shù)仉x開，這種失敗就會開始使人消極，你真正從這項運動中抽身后，若還想繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)，或追逐新事物，往往已經(jīng)太遲。

16 若換作是教育存在這樣的問題，我敢肯定他們早已對此進行了變革。但是，囿于目前大眾對體育運動的理解，我們沒有一套機制能讓所有運動員都成為贏家。是時候放下“不成功毋寧死”的心態(tài)了，讓我們擁抱“快樂運動，過好人生”的運動觀。 □