Nehru once said 'play the game with the spirit of the game'. Life is full of failures and successes. When we play a game, we may either win or lose. "Sportsman spirit" is the spirit of accepting one's success with humility. One of the main advantages of playing any sport is that it teaches us to cope with failures and disappointments that come our way and to make renewed efforts to achieve success next time. After being defeated in a game repeatedly one begins to learn to fight better and yet accept the defeat gracefully.
The same is said about one's life. There are times when we fail at our jobs or we fail to do our duty or we may even suffer losses in life. If we lose hope and curse our fate we can never progress in life. Once a man lost all his money and property in business, he was practically reduced to nothing. But he had a great deal of sportsman spirit and managed to get a hold over himself in such a way that he started building his business right from scratch. He had been defeated at the game of business by his competitors, but he had been a sportsman in school and this helped him to remember the time he had been defeated by better opponent. He recalled how the other team's caliber had in fact inspired him to match up to their level and improve himself.
One should make efforts always to cultivate a sportsman spirit and go through life happily. The parents and teachers of students should help in inculcating some values in their children about the need to keep one's chin up even in the face of adversity. Indoor and outdoor games can always be provided for children so that they acquire training in the game of loss and gain.
