‘Sports builds character; it teaches you to play by rules; it teaches you what it feels like to win and lose; it teaches you about life’

Life at a medical institute can often become monotonous and medical professionals are among those with worst work-life balance. To break this monotonous routine, we conceived and conducted the first ever ‘ILBS Sports Meet’ in January 2019. The event witnessed an unprecedented enthusiastic participation from all cadres including faculty, students (residents), nursing staff, administrative staff as well as other paramedics. It brought everyone together on a common platform and increased bonhomie among people from various cadres. Thereafter, we planned to make the event an annual affair and thus conducted the 2nd Annual ILBS Sports Meet in January 2021. More than 200 staff and students participated in these events enthusiastically and celebrated their teams’ victories. The institute witnessed a vibrant atmosphere with colour coded jerseys during the meet and awards being given on the foundation day. The oldest and the youngest participated with equal enthusiasm.

Although Covid crippled the events in 2021 & 2022, we have planned to renew the activities from January 2023. The basic aim of conducting the sports meet is to impress upon the employees the benefits of physical activity to maintain physical, mental, emotional and social well being. ILBS is equipped with most of the essential sports facilities and equipments for its employees. There is a multi-purpose gymnasium equipped with the latest equipments and gadgets in the new residents block. There is an outdoor badminton court which is regularly utilised by the hostel inmates as well as other staff. Both the residential blocks have separate table-tennis tables with bats and balls. These hostels also have separate facilities for carom in each of the facility. There is a makeshift cricket ground and cricket kits are made available to the employees on request. I would invite everyone including students, residents, faculty, nurses and other staff to utilise the facilities. In future, our endeavour would be to expand these facilities and encourage everyone to play and have fun.