Sports culture, the antidote in preventing and relieving
juvenile delinquency
DR.Titto Cherian
Faculty in Physical Education, Patriarch
Ignatius Zakka I Training College, Malecruz, Ernakulam (DT), Kerala
Abstract
The
aim of the present study was to analyse the importance of sports culture in
young generation. Physical, mental, and moral health are the
foundational beliefs in modern society. Using sport as a mean to relieve
juvenile delinquency seems to be more common and prevalent in contemporary
societies. In the recent decades, criminologists have started to investigate
the link between sports participation and juvenile delinquency. Sports have
been a part of our culture for a long time and sports champions have been
highly respected. Now a days evening meetings in the ground and fair play has
been vanished and replaced with criminal and destructive activities. This paper examined the prospect of using
recreational activities to curb delinquency.
Keywords: Sports
culture, recreation,
delinquency, antidote
Introduction
An idle mind is the workshop of
devil. If one sit idle for some time, he may slipped off to destructive
activity. So to preserve our culture and heritage we need good friendship.
Sports is an easiest method to obtain such a good friendship. The fame and
glory associated has attracted many to try their luck. And as in all fields,
some have tried the short cuts as well, performance enhancing drugs being one
of them. After all, the desire for any and every competitive advantage is a
completely understandable element of human nature. Culture and the
civilization, no doubt, contribute in games and sports. That is why different games
are famous in different countries. One cannot point out the time when the
sports started but, they have been a part of man's everyday life ever since he
learned to struggle for his physical needs, e.g., use of sticks, bows and
arrows to kill prey. Later these activities could have resulted in competitive
sports. People learn culture and that is essential feature of culture. Unlike
genetically transmitted qualities, culture is a body of learned behaviour
common to a give human society and acts rather like a template shaping
behaviour and consciousness within a human society from generation to
generation. Thereby, like everything else that societies have invented, sports
evolved over time. Some games endure in some form or change slowly, e.g.,
archery, javelin throw, etc. Races too have been held since ancient times. Some
sports die out like the ball games that the Aztec Indians played.
Sport as a Panacea
for juvenile delinquency.
The relationship
between sports and juvenile delinquency has been the subject of discussion
throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and have contended that
sports can serve as an effective and powerful antidote for delinquency. Besides
sports can used asa mechanism of social control. Moreover sports was used as a
substitute for stealing bullying and taking alcohol of school children. The
up-to date problem of juvenile delinquency requires a search for various
approaches to and possibilities of its prevention. One of them is our effort to
point out the possibility to use sports in the function of suppressing
destructive behavior of minors. The sport active people adapt very quickly and
efficiently to the circumstances prevailing and achieve better psycho-physical
stability. Through exercise and competing a person learns how to control fear,
reduces the risk or danger of inappropriate reactions and asocial behavior. By
sport the aggressiveness gets fairly easy and successfully oriented towards
positive issues. Sport helps for an individual to gain respect and affirmation
and it also proves fruitful in filling free time and moments of leisure.
Socialisation and internalisation of
social norms via sports participation can provide for endangered groups a sense
of belonging to the larger community, which can decrease juvenile delinquency
within neighborhoods. Sport is generally regarded as a fair play domain in
which everyone enjoys equal chances. Nowadays, athletic principles and values
such as observance of regulations and respect for competitors are the dominant
principles of sports discourse. However, in the modern world, sports
participation and its social connotations have been variable in terms of
inequality and social gaps. Indeed, different types of sports activities often
imply social differences and inequity. Still, sport is not merely a reflection
of a society, rather it is regarded as a factor which may remove inequality and
bring about social change.
Taking a look at the history of
games in ancient Greece, Rome, Germany and other countries one can say that
sports have been a part of our culture and tradition since time immemorial and
are here to stay. The outlook, the rules and the players change but the
competitive spirit, coordination and the appreciation always remains.
Men
see sports as an opportunity for public success. As young boys, they played
sports as a way to make friendships and hold a stronger bond with their
fathers, but as they get older, domination and success take over the once low-key
sport. Even if the sport can lead to injuries and other health problems that
can last beyond the end of their athletic career, the player sees it as a price
well paid. And men see sports,
especially big league, as a way to express masculinity in a form that they
might not be able to do in a blue-collar society. The fame and money can also
blind players into wanting more than to just play; they want to win and take
home the top honors.
A
very important element in American culture today is sports, especially amongst
blacks. The struggle for blacks to participate in sports was a difficult
encounter in the earlier 1900's. However, due to various black leaders, such as
Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson, they have open many doors for African
Americans.
Conclusion
Many tests
proved that the theories on the effect of sports participation as a social inclusionary
mechanism. Current theories contend that perceived exclusion and separation
from the social body may encourage juvenile delinquency. In fact our the
students have no clear understanding of the meaning of recreation, there were
inadequate recreation facilities and equipment, programmes and personnel, but
students are interested in active participation. It concluded that Governments
should provide more recreational facilities and equipment and should draw a
mandatory recreation programme for all students and thereby can reduce going
into destructive activity.
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