IIS Shows a High Performance Sports Centre Is Not Only About Producing Athletes

A High Performance Sports Centre is designed to produce world-class athletes. But that is not it's solitary purpose.

Rushdee Warley sat a few meters away from the bustling congregation of media personnel and swimmers by the poolside. In collaboration with Mizuho Bank, the Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS) had just inaugurated a High-Performance Swimming Programme at their Vijayanagar centre. This initiative is aimed to elevate India’s performance in aquatics – a highly rewarding sport in any multi-sport event.

At the event, Warley acted as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IIS. The pool, however, served as a time capsule to his days with, and in, the waters of Cape Town. He had dreamt of becoming a reputed swimmer, albeit being born in John Vorster’s South Africa proved to be a major deterrent.

Vorster being an pro-apartheid hardliner. And Warley being a non-white South African.

The Discrimination That Rushdee Warley Faced

Recollecting tales from his swimming days, he tells The Quint:

I was a swimmer during the Apartheid days of South Africa. Because I was a person of colour, and not white, I was not allowed to swim with the white swimmers. My career could not progress but I got into coaching. I remember when I was a coach at a yard facility. No heating, no equipment. We could swim for only four months. But I could achieve success with relatively little infrastructure and support, so the national federation appointed me for the talent identification and development wing.

Rushdee Warley

Not that Warley did not have the opportunity to compete. But, he did not want to, at the expense of his amour propre.

I was as good as the white swimmers. And I don’t say this without proof, in swimming you could see the timings and compare. I was up there. And despite my colour, I did get the opportunity to go to tournaments with the white swimmers. But my parents have deep-rooted values. They told me that I could go if I wanted to, but I needed to come to terms with the fact that I would not be allowed to travel in the same bus as the white swimmers, or stay in the same hotel, or go to the same beaches or school. I was just 12 at that time, but I decided not to sell myself short just because I wanted to participate in competitions.

Rushdee Warley

By the time Warley had decided to follow in his father’s footsteps in becoming a lawyer, Apartheid was a thing of the past in South Africa. Except now, he did not have the proficiency for it.

Apartheid fell when I was a university student. Nelson Mandela was freed, and many reforms were being introduced. One of those was that a certain number of non-white students would be allowed to study law, which I was pursuing at the time. But I feel short there was well. The irony of my life is that when I tried to become a swimmer, I was not white enough. And when I tried to become a lawyer, I was not black enough.

Rushdee Warley

The Discrimination That Chirom Joyshree Devi Faced

Chirom Joyshree Devi does not have much knowledge about Apartheid. Or about the Vorsters and Verwoerds of this world. All of 15, she is more familiar with Gen Z YouTuber IShowSpeed. Emulating the content creator, she reveals her admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo by saying “Ronaldo better, bruh!”

Albeit unfortunately, the boxer from Manipur has had to experience exactly what Warley did in Apartheid South Africa – discrimination.

She informs The Quint:

I have been to competitions where people have made fun of me because of the way I look. I remember one tournament, where a group were making jokes about how small my eyes are. It felt really bad. But here at IIS, I feel as if I am staying in my home. Everyone is equal, there is no discrimination based on how anyone looks. This is what I love the most about this place. It feels as safe as home.”

Chirom Joyshree Devi

It has been six years since she arrived in Vijayanagar, after being scouted by the erstwhile boxing coach of IIS, Ronald Simms.

I am a huge fan of Cristiano Ronaldo, so I wanted to be a footballer. But the conditions were not conducive. My father was a goalkeeper but could not make it to the big stages because of the lack of facilities. I was told about the challenges I would face if I pursued football. But boxing was already popular since Mary Kom’s medal, and an academy had also opened up. So, I decided to go for boxing. I was selected by IIS coaches during a tournament in Manipur. I was supposed to be a part of the first match in 2017, but I was too small at that time. So, I requested them again a year later and joined in 2018.

Chirom Joyshree Devi

The Purpose of a High Performance Centre

Warley echoes Joyshree’s comments about equality. For him, a high-performance centre’s sole aim cannot be just to produce world-class athletes but to instil values.

Among the most important things we teach here is that everybody is equal. No form of discrimination will be tolerated here. Everyone has to be treated with the same level of respect, be it the athletes or the staff. Just because you are a successful athlete, it does not mean that you don’t have to respect the person who is cleaning dishes or the roads. That will be called out at IIS. And this is why I don’t regret the days of Aparthied, because it has shaped who I am today. It has made me understand the importance of equality.

Rushdee Warley

The IIS, a vast amalgamation of flora and sporting infrastructure, currently houses 200 athletes, including 30 swimmers in their swimming programme. Warley acknowledges that not all 230 athletes will represent the nation at the Olympics, albeit 20 of the 117 Indian athletes at the Paris Olympics are from IIS.

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However, he emphasizes that while he strives to make everyone a better athlete than they were before joining the facility, it is more important to ensure they become better people.

IIS is a place with world-class training facilities. But besides that, we ensure that everyone involved, from the athletes to the staff, can fulfil their potential as human beings. This is a place where we help people become better athletes, but more importantly, better people.

Rushdee Warley

Joyshree concludes:

We get to learn about life skills as well in IIS, it is not just about sports. So, I am pretty sure I will use what I have learned here to do something or the other, if I don’t make it big in boxing.

Chirom Joyshree Devi