Friday, October 28, 2011

THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF A BASKETBALL COACH - II

There are two ways of becoming a better coach - one is you train elite players and are officially recognized. The second is you use your instincts to train young and new players. If you love the game enough - the coaching ability grows on you - you learn to create chemistry between different people - maybe the methods are not exactly from the text book. This rubs off on your students who become innovative players and learn to enjoy the game - and develop a fervor and passion equal to your own.

My students were good - but often the tournaments we went to - were arranged in a way to favor the host team. This created a feeling of `frustration' in all of us. So we organized tournaments ourselves in which a fair opportunity was given to all teams.
I was stepping into unknown - uncharted territories - but I had to give a logical conclusion to my players who were becoming better and better. The idea to create an year long league came up - it was a visionary thought - A.B.L.E. CUP became a mile-stone in promotion of basketball in Bangalore city. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be a basketball player. But these were still early days. And suddenly we stepped into another NO NO ZONE - young players like my son became coaches. We had broken the code - and now we could go wherever we wanted. Senior players donned the role of coaches, officials - and I became the VOICE for hundreds of `tournament starved' children.

AN YEAR LONG A.B.L.E. league took every ounce of energy I had - it left my finances and family in shambles - but I was ready to pay the price AND I DID. But when the final moment came in Beagles basketball court - it was gratifying. SUCCESS has its price tag. Different pressures from different directions - slowly started nibbling at our programme. We couldn't follow up it with other grandiose plans that I had envisioned. Printed pamphlets and book-lets still lying in my cupboards - of almost 10-12 years ago - to tell the story of failed dreams.

But I didn't give up. The idea of going to every school and be a `honorary coach' slowly germinated. I was breaking fresh ground - I was learning fast - but it was painful. THERE WAS NO SUPPORT from any side - and slowly my ideas and the support I had withered away. My career as a coach had slowly ended and I started calling myself as a promoter. It was sheer madness - a man who always was bankrupt was talking of networking ONE HUNDRED SCHOOLS. The vision I had seen for myself - slowly crystallized in the shape of SUMPOORNA BASKETBALL SCHOOL. But there were family responsibilities too. I had come so far - and now I looked to GOD. I asked him for help - and HE CAME. Finally I had a back-up. It was time to go - and another journey began. This time I had a smile on my face. To be continued -----

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

MAKING THE MIND - A COMPASS

A boat in an ocean depends on A COMPASS as the most important instrument to chart its journey. We use our minds to chart the journey of our life. But a compass has precisely defined degrees and directions such as NORTH EAST WEST SOUTH. Does our mind have these directions?

To make it easier to understand - DOES OUR MIND use our NATURE with the right of ENERGY in a WORLD with the right SOURCES. NATURE - ENERGY - WORLD - SOURCE are the functions of our mind. THE MIND IS THE MAGNETIC FIELD. With this as analogy let us now chart the journey of our life.

COME JOIN ME IN THIS EXTRA-ORDINARY JOURNEY OF LIFE BY MAKING THE MIND - A COMPASS.
On 28th October from 6pm to 7pm at REGENCY PUBLIC SCHOOL, AMS LAYOUT, VIDYARANYAPURA - the inaugural introspection class will begin. ALL ARE INVITED.