Virtual sports, virtual friends, virtual calories, virtual skills.

As the laughter finally died down, I raised my head up and looked at the TV screen. There it was in big bold letters “YOU LOSE” I then looked over to the other side of the TV screen, there were also big bold letters but these said “YOU WIN.” I couldn’t believe I had been beaten, beaten by a.... 5 year old. That’s right I had just been beaten by a 5 years old in Wii tennis and I was not happy. I demanded a rematch but he wasn’t an idiot he saw the fire in my eyes and told me he didn’t want to embarrass me again, another round of laughs fills the room. I now being the joke of the party took off my Wii controller and gave it to his next awaiting victim. Later on in the night (he had grown bored of beating everyone) I asked him how he was so good at Wii tennis. His answer was short “School” on more questioning it turned out to be after School care, but he said his school was planning to get it.

As he ran off, I wondered about this weird new concept of Wii in schools. I had heard of Wii being used in retirement houses and I thought that was a great idea, grandma vs. grandma in a boxing match. Great don’t you think? But Wii in school, maybe this is the way to future, the next level of sports training? Maybe the Wii is the key Roger Federer success? Or was it more likely just another waste of more tax payer money.

The education system in this country has already created a major shortage of skilled workers. The number of people getting into university to become doctors, mathematicians and scientists are so low we are actually lowering the requirements to get in, soon enough all you will need to become a doctor is a pencil. And it seems the same mistakes the department of education made with teaching our young kids to read and write they are making with running and playing.

Kids are being kept locked away, safe under lock and key. No longer can young kids play outside because “they might be bitten by a bee” or “they might eat some dirt”. Kids are no longer allowed to let their imagination run wild with Lego blocks because “they might eat a piece”. And now they’re worried parents have found a great “safe” way for kids to play outdoor games inside, Wii sport.

Of course this is not what the government and schools are saying they say it is a legitimate form of exercise. But as statics show playing Wii games even combined with the Wii balance board is no WHERE close to level of exercise obtained by outdoor activity. Statics also show that over 1/3 of Australia’s kids are overweight or on the board line. Staying indoors and swinging a 20cm stick is not an efficient way of combating this epidemic. Getting out doors and playing some actual sport is the best way to lose calories and have fun. Kids need to actually feel the ball come on to the racket, bat or club; they need to run after the ball instead of letting the game do it and they need to feel the grass under their feet.

Team sports such as cricket, soccer, NRL and AFL all have a way of bringing people together. From the highs of wining to the heart break of losing, being involved in a team sport means your friends will always be there. Sports are also a good way to build self esteem and social skills, skills which kids will need throughout their adult lives, and without them they will no doubt crash and burn.

With the immediate skilled worker shortage, the government has found “genius” solution instead of fixing the system that creates the shortages; they are just going to fly in people from overseas who can do it.

This is the same solution I see for what will one day be a sporting shortage. With the obesity rate on the rise, and virtual games in schools, the number of well trained sports stars will no doubt fall. And what might the government do about this; they will most likely get more realist simulators, maybe even in 3d. But as a quick fix they will probably fly in sporting stars from overseas, no doubt another “genius” solution.

So don’t be surprised in the not too distant future to see fat, uneducated, sports oblivious people walking around. And these same people will be the ones complaining about some Indian swimmer, who can’t speak much English, and has only been in the country for a couple of months, representing our country in the Olympics games.

Sports and Politics just don’t mix

Pakistani cricket fans burn an effigy of the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi during a protest in Lahore over the snubbing of the country's players in the IPL auction.

As I lay on my couch one late night, I flicked trough the multitude of channels. Most of which had nothing but depressing late night news, “bombing is Iraq”,” terror level raised in London” or “the us is warning ...” none of that cheerful good news you hear on the 6 clock news, this was hard hitting stuff. After some more channel surfing I finally found something a lot more joyous the ‘Indian Premier League’ better known as the ‘IPL’. The IPL a cricket fans heaven and all on free to air TV (channel 10 signed a 5 year contract for an estimated 15 million dollars). It was the Kings XI Punjab vs. Kolkata Knight Riders both teams owned by the BIGGEST names in Bollywood. I sat back and watched Chris Gayle (captain of the West Indies cricket team) hit six after six and thought this is great, way better than all the disheartening news reports of terrorism and politics.

But as I looked closer at the players in the teams I realised that not a single one of them was Pakistani. Pakistan are the current T20 world champions and yet not a single player is in the IPL, then like some sort of religious awaking I remembered a news article I had read a few months back and suddenly the IPL wasn’t so far away from terrorism and politics as I once thought.

Could it be a mere coincidence that not a single team placed a bid for any Pakistani player for was it part of a wider conspiracy. Some have suggested that they were not bought because the Pakistani players have not been up to scratch, that they were judged on their performance rather than their nationality. This sounds reasonable until you look at the finer details, while it is true that some players have been under performing this is mostly in the longer versions of the game. It is true that Pakistan didn't win a single game here in Australia during the summer, but they put up a good fight and nearly won on several occasions. On the other hand the West Indians didn't win any games this summer, and on most occasions they were nowhere close, and yet most of their players went for a lot of money during the IPL auctions.

Thus I’m lead to another reason. India and Pakistan’s relation has always been on a knives’ edge with many wars and constant border skirmishes. But after the Mumbai attacks (ten coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across the city of Mumbai killing 173) on 26 November 2008 by Pakistani terrorist, tensions have been extremely high. This event is no doubt the reason for the exclusion of the Pakistani players, of course this has been extensively denied by the IPL organizers and the Indian government. Before the auction even started the Indian government had be extremely slow in handing out visas to the Pakistani players. Sport has been a unifier on many occasions; it has turned ordinary men and women into little more than Demi –gods, and to let all this be corrupted by politics is very distressing. Even in ancient Greece warring tribes, fractions, states and even countries used to come together to participate in the annual games, to not attend was a sign of great disrespect, and to not welcome each other with open arms was an ever bigger disrespect.

So if it could be done over 2000 years ago why not now, like the old cliché goes ‘sports and politics just don’t mix.’ I hope next year I will see Shahid Afridi out there hitting all those sixes.

PS: Kings XI Punjab won by 8 Wickets