Sports and me
Sports is what binds us together – our batch was one of the best !
Emmanuella Grace, Voice and Peak Performance Coach and Expert at Find Your Voice, outlines 3 reasons why “playing sport is a vital part of our development.” These are:
1. Sports teaches tenacity. The ability to fail and learn from the setback and move forward is a vital life skill. Learning that failure is not the end, but part of the learning experience has far-reaching implications, affecting our self-esteem, our resilience, and our mental agility. These skills are vital for success as we grow into adults to survive and thrive life’s setbacks and challenges.
2. Sports teaches teamwork. Even if you are naturally someone who is happy with your own company or more introvert, there are times when you will need to collaborate. Sport encourages the development of this skill set.
3. Sports teaches discipline. Motivation is finite but our capacity for motivation can be bolstered. If from a young age we are taught the benefits of “type 2 fun” and hone the ability to work towards a greater reward, evidence shows that people are less likely to suffer from depression and they can experience greater satisfaction in life.
Sports is and should be an integral part of our lives. Even if most of us may not play any sports- individually, many follow it.
I write this blog- during the Wimbledon 2023 Tennis and day after England beat Aussies in a thrilling Test Match, at Headingley Leeds- west Yorkshire, my own backyard.
I came from a sporting family so it was natural for me to continue to play sports at Medical school. I have some great memories of our batch winning inter-class Basketball tournament almost every year- with some excellent players led by Sukhdev, our American import in Daljit, Parveen Singla, DN and others, who contributed to our success. The girls coming to support and cheer us on was amazing.
Who can ever forget the annual trip to Pune-Mumbai to take part in All India Inter-medical college tournament. We made it to the finals, but alas, never won it. It still hurts to think that one year we were beaten by only a few points by armed forces medical college. When we were coming back after the final trip, we met someone at Delhi railway station who told that results are out- this left us on tenterhooks and the rest of the journey to Amritsar was in almost complete silence. But we got there and went straight to the office to find out our fate. What a nerve wrecking time.
We had a very skilled, Badminton player and watched many of his duals with a senior player, whose name I can not recall. The support Rosy enjoyed was enormous, and what a player he was!
Table Tennis was a religion with us playing till early hours of the morning and at times got in the way of some serious business-called studying.
Besides playing other sports, I was always in the cricket field, sometimes even playing for senior batch when they were short, so much so-that a friend warned me “ I better start studying or else …… I might fail”.
Sports has always remained a part of my life. It also inspired me to write a book in my chosen speciality of diabetes. “Exercise and Sports in Diabetes” which got some excellent reviews.
It is great to know that our classmates still continue to enjoy playing Golf, Cricket and other sports. Keep up the good work friends, and stay in good health and high spirits.
Dinesh Nagi.
