Oh to be young

 My grandson is a skier, and an athlete at 11 years old he is, according to the experts who have been talking to my daughter and her partner, one of the top four athletes for his age in the world. The good news is that he is not allowed by the athletic governing body to compete until he is 13. So, he can have fun, and practice his craft but not be tied into the gruelling life of a world-class athlete for a couple of more years.

My grandson, is, to this point self-taught and wants to learn more and become better at his craft. He watches YouTube videos of his heroes and breaks down what they do and then practices what they do until he can do what they do on the snow. He loves what he does, I watched him when he came to Canada, a few months ago, practicing tricks with his Dad videotaping and every time he did it, he came and checked the video to see what he needed to correct. I saw him do one trick over 50 times until he did it correctly. His Dad and I put no pressure on him, but he persevered.

The life of a professional athlete, no matter what sport is a tough one and one that I am glad he is not allowed to compete until he is older. Young men and women should be allowed to experience childhood, without the extreme pressure that comes from trying to compete at the world level.

All of the words below are used to describe the latest and greatest athletes in whatever sport, and many will be used to describe my grandson when and if he joins the world stage in a year and a half.

Bright lite

in a new way

latest and greatest

new and improved

gifted

talented

up-and-coming

rising star

exhilarating

fresh

invigorating

sharp

stimulating

awesome

His parents and we as grandparents are very proud of him and he should be, and I hope is very proud of himself. I am proud of him, not because he is as good as he is, I am proud of him for the passion and for the joy he finds in life and the passion with which he pursues life. I hope that his grandmother and I will be around to see him reach his dreams and we will do whatever we need to do to help him reach them.

The write stuff --Digital Natives

“Digital natives are no longer those youngsters who fit in the bracket of a Harvard return professional, glued to their PC all day,” says Nishant Shah, director of research, Centre for Internet and Society, a Bengaluru-based organisation. For Nishant, and many youngsters across the globe, digital natives are not any of those secluded geeks who spend hours on the Internet. “I am a homemaker, yet I am a digital native,” says Nilofer Ansher, a community manager who manages members from across three continents.

A housewife, a young college graduate, a freelance writer, an NGO professional and many other individuals are behind the Internet activist flurry. Digital Natives, Fair Observer, PC Tech Magazine are just a few of the newsletters and forums that are connecting youngsters from across the globe and are mobilising them to do something beyond information gathering.

Youth-related discussions, inventions in make-shift laboratories from the backyards of homes in Nigeria and action against corruption across the globe; these are just some of the activities that these netizens are involved in. “The idea was to build a network of people from across the globe who are passionate about what they do. We are not talking countries, it is all to do with people with similar interests,” says Shah, who collaborated with Hivos to create the online platform called Digital Natives, used to write about issues of concern. One of the web sites set up is called Digital Natives with a cause.

The members collaborate online to write about various issues. But these online movements can have serious repercussions, “In fact, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, one of Egypt’s most vocal activists and bloggers, has been detained. He is our team member. We are now running a campaign supporting his early release,” says Ansher who doubles up as a co-editor of one of these newsletters. Various discussions have led to solutions. “My first challenge was to create a communication system for illiterate farmers. But I wanted a definite solution. So another member from mobile active community sent a message and it worked and we are following the same system,” says Ajay Kumar, manager, ICT operation