Chapter 4 — Sports and Wellness

The unit contains three texts: the story 'Change of Heart' about a boy named Prabhat who learns the value of sporting spirit; the poem 'The Winner' by Georgia Heard about children playing ball by a creek until nightfall; and the informational passage 'Yoga – A Way of Life' explaining yoga's origins, philosophy, and health benefits.

It follows Prabhat, a student who always had to win and could not bear defeat. When a new classmate, Surya, proves to be a better badminton player, Prabhat secretly changes the scoreboard to win. But that night he cannot sleep and feels no happiness. Watching Surya enjoy every game — even games he plays badly — Prabhat gradually realises that enjoyment, not the scoreboard, is the heart of sport.

Prabhat is given the responsibility of keeping score for their friendly match. While Surya is looking elsewhere and laughing at a joke, Prabhat changes the scoreboard. He wins by this act of cheating, which everyone around him accepts at face value.

By observing Surya over several days, Prabhat realises that Surya enjoys every game equally — whether he is excellent at it or hopeless at it. Prabhat concludes that 'to enjoy a game, you did not need a scoreboard to keep a tally of your scores. What matters is trying to do well, and enjoying every moment of it.' He begins to play with joy himself and earns the reputation of having a great sporting spirit.

'The Winner' is written by Georgia Heard. The poem describes children playing ball next to a creek in their neighbour's field during the evening. They run so fast the speaker cannot catch her breath. As the sky turns from blue-dark to black and the grass grows cold underfoot, the game ends — 'Night wins!' The poem uses personification (night winning) and a fragmented line pattern to convey breathless, joyful play.

The unit teaches two devices using this poem. First, personification — the line 'Night wins!' gives the inanimate night a human quality of winning. Second, the fragmented visual pattern of the lines 'I / can't / even / catch / my / breath' is used to highlight the physical sensation of being out of breath, making the reader experience the breathlessness through the poem's layout.

The passage states that yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice that originated in ancient India. The word 'Yoga' comes from the Sanskrit root 'yuj', meaning 'to join' or 'to unite', symbolising the unity of mind and body and harmony between human and nature. Sage Patanjali presented the ancient tradition of yoga systematically in the 'Yoga Sutras of Patanjali', describing yoga as a means to make the mind quiet and free from all distractions. Seals of the Sindhu-Sarasvati Civilisation, dating to 2700 BC, indicate yoga was prevalent in ancient India.

The passage lists: yoga postures (asanas) help stretch and strengthen muscles, increase flexibility, endurance, and balance, and can reduce body pains such as lower back pain; breathing techniques and meditation calm the mind, reduce stress and anxiety, improve sleep quality, and increase concentration; yoga boosts the immune system and improves heart health by lowering blood pressure and improving circulation; and yoga can aid in weight loss by burning calories.

On 20 June 2021, the World Health Organisation launched an app called WHO mYoga. The app contains a collection of videos and audio files to teach and support yoga practice. The aim was to provide an easy-to-use and free tool for people across the world to encourage them to practise yoga.

Two sportspersons are profiled. Deepika Kumari is an archer from Jharkhand whose father is an auto-rickshaw driver and whose mother is a nurse; she practised with homemade bamboo bows and arrows before joining Tata Archery Academy and won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Neeraj Chopra is from Khandra village in Haryana, with a family largely involved in agriculture; he became the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in javelin throw and, at age 23, was the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold; he also won a silver medal in javelin throw at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The unit states that on 11 December 2014, the United Nations General Assembly with 193 members accepted the proposal to celebrate 21 June as International Yoga Day.

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