sweet victory

Over the weekend Jispa had her final Mumbai meet. This is the final meet in which the association selects the participants to represent Mumbai at the state meet at Balewadi Pune. The same complex which I had blogged about earlier. This place has amazing infrastructure that is ill maintained. But that’s not the story. So Jispa this year is in a disadvantage year. The top honors belong to those who are one year elder to her. A two year gap is huge amongst children and it makes a big difference to the seeding. Hence we had no hopes of qualifying. One of the interesting bits about the competition is that the association allows each kid to participate in a maximum of four races. Now that suddenly opens up the entire pool (pun unintended). Jispa traditionally had been horrible in the breast stroke. Her forte is the butterfly. All this while it meant skipping the breast stroke and the individual medley (IM) (all four strokes). Suddenly in the last couple of months, she got her breast stroke right and that meant a good chance in the IM. So she participated and baam – third place. That day I was the volunteer with the timings. I got a beautiful perspective of the sport as an official. You see it differently and you talk to the coaches around you and the entire game changes for you. Coincidently I was taking the timing for the same lane Jispa was in. There are three time keepers per lane and the median time is taken. As I saw Jispa in my lane on the other side, I told my colleagues that it’s my daughter on that side. Should I exchange or opt out. They said it was ok. So I was the time judge for the big victory. IM is considered the holy grail for all round swimmers. You get announced as the best all round swimmer. Not bad at all.

Afterwards I told her – “not bad, IM eh? The third best all round swimmer in your category eh?.” She was happy as well. Pune – state selection meet – here we come. She also got through on the 50M freestyle dash. I was the lane timekeeper for that as well. She came 5^th and that meant she goes through that one as well. The top 6 go in each race. Luckily all this got over on Saturday itself leaving the Sunday to rest and relaxation.

This was one race I was really proud to see Jispa win a medal in. It’s the final race of the year in Mumbai. The best of the best come in and give in their best. Awesome stuff. I wasn’t expecting this.

treasure your silver

“Uncle”, one kid called out to me yesterday at Jispa’s school swim meet. The school swim meet is the eagerly awaited meet at our home. Jispa always does better at her school meet and her best times are at the relay there. It is easily the most important swim meet as she gets to show case her swimming in front of her friends. All her friends know that she swims regularly. They participate but know they can’t match her. Of the four strokes you are allowed to participate in only three. You pick your ones. For Jispa the breast is the weakest stroke and hence she opted out of that one. So you had the kids sighing a relief that she was not in that stroke, which means the others have a chance. She won the golds in the three stockes and that too by a wide margin. The second place was ten seconds behind in some races. It was complete domination.
“Uncle” she called out to me, “you must be very proud of Jispa nah?”. “why?” I asked. “you must be proud of her because Jispa is so talented”. She was alluding to the fact that Jispa has had a rocking year. She did well in English elocutions, Hindi elocutions, sports day and then the swimming event (technically it’s the next academic year) etc. “er, no kid. That’s not why I am proud of her. I would be a proud parent irrespective of her talents. It doesn’t matter”
Talent. Versus hard work and perseverance? Talent is good but you still have to work a lot on it. when parents tell me congrats for my kid, I just point them in Jispa’s direction. That’s the one doing all the work. I got a chance to explain this to Jispa over dinner. I told her you have had a great year but its all becausue of the hard work you have put in. “do you remember” I asked her. “do you remember in peak winter crying before going to swim because the water would be very cold”. She nodded. I asked another one “do you remember when you practice your elocutions, I would sometimes get angry and scold you and you would cry”. She nodded again. It’s a lot of hard work. Very hard work. I keep telling any parent who cares to listen. Please put your child in any one sport / discipline outside of school. Pursue it properly with the help of a coach. Don’t aim for any medal category but preserve with it. Something that the child enjoys. Do it properly. It teaches the kid a thing or two. It teaches hard work, discipline, the fun of improving every year. A mental makeup that will hold in good stead.
Jispa knows a thing or two about swimming, about getting up in winter morning to brave the cold waters. She saw her timings improve after the weather warmed up. These experiences are more precious than the golds she wins. I don’t hold any of her medals close to my heart. They are a means, not the end. Some of her races are more fun than others some more exciting but really, its about training every day, focusing on technique, concentration and above all perseverance that counts.
After her three strokes, came the time for the relays. One was the girls relay which she anchored and the team won effortlessly. Fourth gold. The last was the mixed relay in which they take the top four swimmers per house. She was anchoring that as well. At the start her friend went in first. A competent swimmer, I saw she missed her tumble turn to touch the wall and come back. That is clearly one to two second loss. Why did she do that? I later realized that it was because while swimming her goggles twisted and she was almost swimming blind. She bravely yet barely gave a lead which was lost due to a weak second and third swimmer, which meant that Jispa would start being around 15 meters (half length) behind. Now that is the best situation for Jispa to be in. Anchoring a relay and starting well behind. Go jispa go. Last year she came from behind similarly to clinch gold. This time her adversary was the fastest boy in primary. She took off and swam like hell. She gained and gained and gained. Till the very end. People were screaming and going wild. Could she do it? The last 15 meters and the boy was still ahead. Jispa wasn’t tiring; she was going fast, still gaining. An improbable coming from behind victory looked probable. Can lightning strike twice. GO JISPA GO, I was screaming, I couldn’t stop myself. Last 5 mtr, the boy is ahead and only just, and the finish. Boy wins by one second. WHOA. What a race. Jispa misses her fifth gold to get silver.
In the evening I asked Jispa “do you remember the athlete’s prayer”. “Which one, dad?” “When a great….” I started to have it completed by Jispa “player comes to write against your name, he writes NOT if you have won or lost but how you played the game”. “Yes Jispa. You came in second in the second relay, but then what happened? Everyone forgot the first place and came personally to congratulate you. They all told you that you swam a lovely race. You did very well, you were surrounded and everyone was talking about you and congratulating you. Who remembered the winner?” “Yes, you are right”. “Understood Jispa? It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you have played your game. They saw your game, not your victory (or lack of)”. The penny dropped. She understood. She smiled. All these I wasn’t talking bum. These are things you can’t understand when you win. That’s a pretense of humility or talk. But you experience it when you have played your heart and yet you have lost.
That silver Jispa, that silver… is more valuable than your Golds. Treasure it.

winning matters?

It’s a difficult thing to sit inside a secluded cabin and work. I think there are more distractions inside a cabin than outside. So today I decided to finish a lot of my pending work. Not that it would not have been possible inside. But a change in settings helps the mental make up. the cabin is good for meetings but is practically useless to get any work done. Too many distractions. And the worst part of it all is that I don’t get the mental frame to write my blog. BAH!
To continue from last time’s entry, Jispa and her swim team got called into the head of department’s office on Friday. They were given the news that they needed to turn in their silver and they would get a GOLD instead. Some back room discussions seem to have prevailed. Interesting. Well talk about having your cake and eating it too. She got the lesson for by winning silver yet she got her Gold! There also everyone in her team was congratulating her for the amazing performance. Aint a proud dad?
To top the weekend was the amazing world cup match played on Saturday. I always felt that India would never ever again lift the world cup and definitely not in my lifetime. I remember the t20 world cup and I was in London at the time. I had this meeting scheduled when India was playing its bolwing their last ten overs. I was in my London office and we were trying to watch the match streaming on a website. Obviously the bandwidth got choked as India was close to winning. I told my head of ops at the time. Boss, I don’t think India will ever win a world cup in my lifetime. I was too small when we won in ’83. And I don’t remember it at all. I wasn’t going to miss this one. I told him lets go to the pub across and watch it dude. He did not require too much egging on. Pronto I witnesses history and I thought that image will remain with me for the rest of my life. Till... Saturday. Oh god! We won the world cup. WE WON THE WORLDCUP. We were screaming and dancing and jumping in joy. We went to eth streets to see Mumbai celebrate on the streets. Everyone was friends with each other. People ‘hi fiving’ each other. I just wanted to be a part of the celebrations.
So I stood on the circle, near the edge with the Indian flag and just screamed at all the guys who passed by on their bikes and cars. They screamed back and I raised my hand. They instinctively reacted and slapped my hand on their way. A small gesture brought me closer to the whole of Mumbai. Actually whole of India. It’s funny how we all on the street were suddenly feeling like one. Its a great feeling. A victory such as thus can somehow unite everybody.
Hmm... It seems like an interesting lesson in management. It is so important to be united and what better way to feel united than to celebrate victories. I think my matter of fact approach to life probably costs me dear. I am happy to quietly celebrate and walk around but I think it’s important that we celebrate together. One can’t be a lone twerp all the time. I think there are two things that get a team together – one is a common adversity typically in the form of an enemy and the other a victory. While we all close ranks on a adversity its becomes critical to close ranks and feel the victory.
Simple lesson learnt. Not that it was not there in my mind but sometimes an incident helps in imbibing it. It becomes a story, a vivid example that connects. Hopefully this will keep the example in my mind and help in me being a slightly more happier person. Hopefully.

we went on the streets with Jispa in tow. hopefully she will remember the big party when India won!

win or loose, wheres the booze

Saturday was a huge day for me and cricket. Nopes I did not manage to hit my elusive first 50. And I think with my aging instincts and fitness I don’t think I will ever get there. Sigh. But a journey that started around 9 years ago came to a large milestone. A little more than 10 years ago I joined this company to meet a man called Arun Solanki. One of the first things he asked me was if I could play cricket. I have played a lot of cricket, but almost all of that with a tennis or a rubber ball. Never with the professional hard leather cricket ball. Only a couple of matches. In one I smashed a lot of runs to win it for my team. But still not enough. He took me on in his team and taught me all that I know about cricket and captaincy. A couple of years later he asked me if we should start the B team within the company and asked me if I would lead it. Woah! At the time I knew little about field placements, a little about, cricket and a little about people. 8 years back, it was a small and disastrous start.
The B team was never a regular feature. I too moved within the company and it saw a few captains. Since last year with a couple of friends who are as dedicated to cricket as ever, we restarted the B team in full earnest. This year we even held selections and picked a pool of 20 players. I have learnt from experience that the B team is not a team designed to win. It is a bunch of rag tag players that play cricket because they love to play and not because they have some god given talent or experience. Most of them don’t even know how to hold the ball properly while bowling. Now as the captain and coach and manager I set a few things in place. These became my guiding force going forward.
The first amongst them was that everybody should get a chance to play. In the league phase matches, everyone would get a chance to play in the playing 11. I would never want to play the best 11. A hugely controversial rule that might have upset the players but would be fair to all. The b team never would have more than 2 – 3 ‘players’. It is largely made up of fringe players who come for the game and it made no sense for them to be out of the team and ferrying water for the rest. Also if you are in the 11, you will get a chance to bat and bowl to the position you like. You want to bat up the order, then sure go ahead, you want to bowl now, sure... in fact I did the unthinkable, I even gave field placements to people basis what they felt like doing. Allowing people to decide for themselves what they want to do. Interesting changes came about the team. From having to hustle 11 players for the team now in every match we had 14 /15 players to choose from.
The dressing room, (the tent actually in Mumbai) atmosphere was another thing I focussed on. A lot of fun. I always thought that the A team was a lot of bull shit. Too much technical stuff being discussed about cricket. Too much attitude being thrown and too much advice being given. I stopped all of that. I focussed on a lot of fun. In the team huddles, I only spoke about each man giving the game more than what he was capable of, thats it. Just play to whatever your potential is, not more not less. I told them not to dive too much and risk injury. I also told everyone not to shout or scream at your own players on the field. Misfields happen and catches get dropped. Its part of the B team. That’s why we have fun. I don’t care what the target is and what the score board says. Have fun. If someoenm gets out, dam cool, the others will get to bat. If someone bowls a long hop to be hit for a six, even better; more runs to chase. More batting. Once I was explain the B team ethos to a trainer and he summed it up best. “Win or lose, where’s the booze”. The focus is fun not winning or losing. The team spirit and the camaraderie is the most important thing here.
Doing all this during the season we found ourselves playing the finals of a tournament on Saturday. Oops. How did we get there. Of course, I am not kidding myself. It wasn’t like the prestigious tournament and that we played the best of teams. But the B team previously in all its existence must have won a couple of matches, tops. So a final was a big thing for my highly inexperienced team.
In the team huddle the first thing I said was, if anyone now calls this ‘the finals’ I will kick them out. We are not going to play the finals, we are out here to play cricket. No big match and no big occasion. We keep the same team ethos, no shouting, no frustration, only lots of fun. This year we normally fielded pretty decent, but in the finals, we dropped a catch, had a few misfileds and few shouts here and there. I kept calming people down and when the energy seemed missing after a couple of big hits by the opposition team, I shouted for energy and brains. On the field, I screamed, come on guys, on the field.
When the time came to chase, we too kept it simple. Play with your bat and the runs will come. Everyone contributed but we lost wickets at regular intervals. It became very tense at the end us down to the last wicket and 9 more runs to win off two over. Just the matter of being there. I focussed on getting the dressing room to relax, not shout too many things at the batsman at the crease. The batsmen somehow stuck in there and somehow won it for the team.
What I loved was that we played very well under pressure for an inexperienced team. Everyone contributed and that there were no single heroes in our victory. The team batted together, bowled together as a unit. When the last few overs were left, I couldn’t but think how close we had come. Win or lose, I told all my players individually, that it was a pleasure playing with every one of them. Because winning or losing did not matter how we played our game is what mattered. And to my mind, we played like a TEAM. We even made fun of our own players, brought smiles to people’s faces under pressure and did not scold any player for bowling wide or short or getting out to bad shots or getting other people run out. It happens.
Surely winning cannot be the redemption for a team that is not focussed on winning. And it’s not about the victory. It’s about creating team that likes to play together and be together. The fun in cricket which I thought was missing in the A team is so much evident in the B team. I am no technical coach and I hardly know my cricket. But what I know is that people play cricket to have fun. And fun doesn’t come from sitting in the dressing room watching others play and being told what to do. Fun comes from playing with the team and getting a chance to play your own part in the team. It’s a team game.
Now only to figure what’s wrong with my batting. I have scored almost nothing in this entire season. Literally next to nothing. I cant be in the team purely for captainship and little fielding.