Sportsmanship in the bhangra scene

[Amanpaul]

what's written on Jasdeep's or anyone elses wall is no1's business, it doesnt belong here

 

[Laddi]

Juvek Virk wrote at 5:04pm
Bhangra is a punjabi folk dance not " bander tapoosia" or wt clowns do, and in this game techniques an traditionalism counts more then gymnasium... ha ha ....keep up good work ...

Senior Captains Son wrote on Jasdeep Sahota facebook wall.

Is this the kind of sportsmenship we are talking about. name calling? insult? bhangra is a game? other teams are bandars? clowns?
provoking ppl?

I believe this is meant as a joke n not a serious insult towards any particular team or person...we gotta a serious facebook analyzer here! LOL

 

[Jagga]

kids do wat their parents taught them...lol

 

[Rajvir Boparai]

kids do wat their parents taught them...lol

Mr Jagga! who taught you that you can blame someone on their back without knowing the truth. Anyway Its their personal and he didint mention any team name, but now its going out of sportsmanship scene. better if we come back to the point.

 

[Jagga]

i makin a general statement bro i aint blamin anything on anyone...

 

[Mukandpuria]

kids do wat their parents taught them...lol

Mr Jagga! who taught you that you can blame someone on their back without knowing the truth. Anyway Its their personal and he didint mention any team name, but now its going out of sportsmanship scene. better if we come back to the point.

relax bro1

 

[Tuckerrrr]

So what I have gotten from this insofar has been a thread of wanting to stop bad sportsmanship with:

-Withholding prize money
-Paying a damage fee
-Banning Captains, Teams
-Set certain rules/guidelines for conduct
-Let it be

Just for discussion sake I have just marked the topics that have been touched on. My response to all of this is going to be obviously in the affirmative to the purpose of this thread. I am not really going to go too much in detail, since what has been said already is in-line with most of my beliefs. I always think that competitions shouldnt always cater to the teams to have fun though, as with most competitive teams, and should really make everyones experience at the competition memorable. I know most of the competitions throw mixers and the like before parties, but I really do think that teams shouldnt just mingle at the event, but try to have them mingle at times throughout the day. If you can get everyones dress rehearsal done, send everyone to a Hospital to visit sick kids, or try to make time to go to a soup kitchen, something really meaningful and inspiring so that bonehead teams could really understand that winning at competitions is miniscule in importance to whats going on in everyday lives. We are comrades, teammates, a small brotherhood/sisterhood when you compare all of us to whats "mainstream" in this country. We should take solace in the fact that since we do the same thing that we are like kin, or at least suppress our feelings and maintain a mask of kinship. Competitions should focus on a way to better enforce regulations to make teams pay for any bad feelings that stem from a competition, whether it be one of the things listed above, and blacklist teams that have been bad throughout years past. Even more important I think that competitions should use sites such as this one to collude and come up with a general criteria that can be changed from competition-to-competition and also try to find which teams behave badly. Trying to provide discussion broskis, so if you could, please outline more thoughts or ideas that could be added to this. Be passionate about the culture, not the placings.

As implausible as it may initially sound, I think a mandatory volunteerwork trip (i.e. soup kitchen) in place of a mixer is a great idea. I know alot of the teams today wouldn't want to do it, but if it caught on I'm sure Bhangra competitions and Bhangra itself would catch on even more in mainstream America. More people would get involved with Bhangra competitions and teams because they could support a noble cause, and I'm positive that media (especially on University cumpuses) would take a larger interest. The atmosphere at competitions would be so different, and so would the audience.

Good idea Saab. Any competition organizers want to comment?

Ram, Shawn, Harman -- this is perhaps the best idea ever suggested on this forum. I approve.

Is there a competition coming up that is willing to make this a reality?

VPD?
Fusion?
AVAP?
SoCal?
CSUN?
Blowout?
Bruin?

It could change the nature of the North American Bhangra circuit, and could really help us reach out to more people (which is the goal of alot of teams and academies). I guarantee that more types of people would get involved, and that universities, organizations, and other sponsors would be more willing to fund teams and Bhangra competitions. It would really help the image of Punjabis and other South Asians in the United States and Canada. Any competition organizers care to comment of the feasability and the likeliness that we will see this at your competition? It's a great way for the teams to get to know each other and for others to get to know our community. At the same time, we're doing seva!

 

[ban3rg]

I know Blowout does like a block party in the daytime - maybe they can set up something then. Since most comps start with a Friday night mixer, and the mixer needs to kind of be there so that the team lineup (order) can be decided, I think it might be more practical to do community service before that time. Soup kitchens are probably open on Friday nights, but where else could people do service at such a time?

maybe planting trees - you can do that anytime you know? whatever, the possibilities are endless and i think this is something that'll help legitimize comps and make them more of a welcome event for any city or hotel especially.

 

[Saab]

I think its possible, I mean I personally would love to outline idea for the competitions to incorporate to bring the aspect of Seva(volunteerism). As much as I think that teams would love the idea of having a mixer, the inception of this idea at ONE competition is all that I think would be needed to catch on. Would a team member dare make a scene or do something stupid at a competition/after a competition knowing that they met a disabled child or homeless family earlier today. As with all extra-curricular activities, bhangra should help shape your future and be a way for yourself to grow as a person. It already helps us in regards to taking care of ourselves, managing our time, able to make connections, etc. It shouldn't just help you in these regards, but growing up as a person knowing that your dancing had a great impact on kids and families not only watching you dance, but those who have no idea/could care less that you dance. We are all blessed with the ability to dance, we shouldn't squander our respective positions.

Is there a way to contact a respective competition?

 

[Saab]

I know Blowout does like a block party in the daytime - maybe they can set up something then. Since most comps start with a Friday night mixer, and the mixer needs to kind of be there so that the team lineup (order) can be decided, I think it might be more practical to do community service before that time. Soup kitchens are probably open on Friday nights, but where else could people do service at such a time?

maybe planting trees - you can do that anytime you know? whatever, the possibilities are endless and i think this is something that'll help legitimize comps and make them more of a welcome event for any city or hotel especially.

If my team(Steel City) gets to go to blowout, I would happily love to coordinate something with other teams on volunteering that day. Even if we don't get in, I would probably still come down and hang out with the teams if they are going to volunteer. Thats a great idea Arjun by the way.

 

[zagreus]

I know Blowout does like a block party in the daytime - maybe they can set up something then. Since most comps start with a Friday night mixer, and the mixer needs to kind of be there so that the team lineup (order) can be decided, I think it might be more practical to do community service before that time. Soup kitchens are probably open on Friday nights, but where else could people do service at such a time?

maybe planting trees - you can do that anytime you know? whatever, the possibilities are endless and i think this is something that'll help legitimize comps and make them more of a welcome event for any city or hotel especially.

That would be awesome! Can you imagine how many well-dressed people there would be at the soup kitchen? It would be unbelievable. Surprise the bhangra teams with some volunteer work instead of a mixer...I would be down for it! Let's make it happen! DC needs help...so, let's bring about the change we can believe in! Obama would be proud!

 

[ban3rg]

I know Blowout does like a block party in the daytime - maybe they can set up something then. Since most comps start with a Friday night mixer, and the mixer needs to kind of be there so that the team lineup (order) can be decided, I think it might be more practical to do community service before that time. Soup kitchens are probably open on Friday nights, but where else could people do service at such a time?

maybe planting trees - you can do that anytime you know? whatever, the possibilities are endless and i think this is something that'll help legitimize comps and make them more of a welcome event for any city or hotel especially.

That would be awesome! Can you imagine how many well-dressed people there would be at the soup kitchen? It would be unbelievable. Surprise the bhangra teams with some volunteer work instead of a mixer...I would be down for it! Let's make it happen! DC needs help...so, let's bring about the change we can believe in! Obama would be proud!

a surprise would be sick. if something like this really happened, i wonder if it would be better if it were announced to the teams ahead of time or not. Some teams I'm sure would love the idea, but perhaps others would shy away from showing up if they heard the plan was to do something service-oriented.

A nice middle ground might be to do a workshop. Sure, it's not community service in the way most of us think about it, but esp. on college campuses I know there are always people interested in learning bhangra. If we could do a large scale workshop and teach like a 2 minute segment to a certain # of people, that would be a fun way to dance together, joke around and have fun, etc... and of course build up hype for the competition (ie, most ppl who came to the workshop would probly go to the comp the following night). maybe each team teaches a special move and it comes together as a 2 minute routine, who knows - that way every team gets to teach and get involved.

 

[Dippy]

I know Blowout does like a block party in the daytime - maybe they can set up something then. Since most comps start with a Friday night mixer, and the mixer needs to kind of be there so that the team lineup (order) can be decided, I think it might be more practical to do community service before that time. Soup kitchens are probably open on Friday nights, but where else could people do service at such a time?

maybe planting trees - you can do that anytime you know? whatever, the possibilities are endless and i think this is something that'll help legitimize comps and make them more of a welcome event for any city or hotel especially.

That would be awesome! Can you imagine how many well-dressed people there would be at the soup kitchen? It would be unbelievable. Surprise the bhangra teams with some volunteer work instead of a mixer...I would be down for it! Let's make it happen! DC needs help...so, let's bring about the change we can believe in! Obama would be proud!

a surprise would be sick. if something like this really happened, i wonder if it would be better if it were announced to the teams ahead of time or not. Some teams I'm sure would love the idea, but perhaps others would shy away from showing up if they heard the plan was to do something service-oriented.

A nice middle ground might be to do a workshop. Sure, it's not community service in the way most of us think about it, but esp. on college campuses I know there are always people interested in learning bhangra. If we could do a large scale workshop and teach like a 2 minute segment to a certain # of people, that would be a fun way to dance together, joke around and have fun, etc... and of course build up hype for the competition (ie, most ppl who came to the workshop would probly go to the comp the following night). maybe each team teaches a special move and it comes together as a 2 minute routine, who knows - that way every team gets to teach and get involved.

aww I think that is a really cute idea!!! I knw that the little kids in my community absolutely love bhangra and it would be cool to have the teams hang out with the little kids and maybe teach them a few moves in between dress rehersals?? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[Laddi]

Honestly, I know a lot of teams that go to competitions, sure to compete, but also to interact, to meet other people with the same interests, to travel to new cities, to spread your team's name. Yes, at the end of the day its a competition, a friendly competition. It doesn't make sense when people say "Well its a competition, we compete to win! And if you dance to spread "cultural awareness" go open up a workshop showcasing Bhangra and it's relation to the Punjabi culture". If thats your mentality, then sadly, you have lost the whole concept of what Bhangra means to our generation. We are a generation who mostly grew up in north america. Sure, in India they probably compete like its basketball, football, etc. Here, we compete, but we do it to uphold our culture, to stay connected, to learn. Winning a competition is such a small part of the whole weekend. Nobody cares who won when you're at the afterparty enjoying yourself with other people who share your passion. Its all about having a camaraderie amongst each other.

It doesn't make sense to preach sportsmanship and proffesionalism on a forum when one can't behave like that in person themself.

LOL right. Speak for yourself buddy.

no hard feeling bud...but i remember ur drama with Bulldog a coupla months back...where was the sportsmanship in that?!?