The Hindu Business Line : To compete is to build character

Team games have long been seen as character building sports by the world. Recruitment experts swear by the correlation between the efficiency of an executive in the corporate world and his having played a team sport. Just as an “army background” suggests discipline and is a much desired attribute in favour of the candidate, so is having played a sport, preferably a team one at that.

In Chak De, the allegorical reference to hockey has been used to talk about larger issues assailing our country and much has been written about that, from gender empowerment to the eternal battle between the attention paid to cricket versus all other sports.

Lessons from the field

For me, the film was, however, a reaffirmation of how sports can teach us some basic lessons in management, which help mould us as managers and corporate executives, for the better.

Among the many good things my alma mater, Stella Maris College in Chennai, believed in was that a 360-degree effort to develop the mind, the soul and the body was key. As such, willingly or unwillingly, all of us had to sign up for a sport the moment we entered the hallowed portals of the college .

Serendipitously, I joined the hockey coaching sessions and much to everyone’s surprise, including mine, ended up getting selected as part of the college team. To everyone’s further surprise and shock, my short sporting career graph rose sharply, with me playing for Madras University and the Tamil Nadu state team in the three years I spent at Stella.

My entire family and friends circle was taken aback by this hitherto un-exhibited talent, having witnessed a distinct disinclination on my part to move very much from my favourite armchair. I, on the other hand, was taken aback by the fact that I ended up enjoying the sport very much!

The early morning practices, the gut wrenching sit-ups, the straps chafing into ankles, the navy blue bruises all over our legs, all paled into insignificance against the camaraderie of the team, the satisfying thwack of the ball into the opponent team’s goal post and the glory of various saves made with a courageous leap at the ball.

We were a motley group of girls from all parts of the state — from sophisticated Chennai to not-so-sophisticated North Arcot and Salem. One of the first tournaments we played in was the All-India National Women’s Annual Meet. Of course, we were no match for the strapping players from Punjab, the hardy Haryanvis or the quicksilver teams of the North-East. We lost the first two matches by a wide margin and it was rare for the ball to even cross into the opposite side of the field.

As the goalkeeper of the team, I decided that I was culpable for the losses and got into an extremely defeatist frame of mind. I was convinced I would be dropped from the next game and for the next match. While the rest of the team went about the business of practising and warming up, I stood around moping and made no attempts to get into the spirit whatsoever. The team was announced and I was indeed dropped as the goalkeeper.

It is the spirit that matters

We, of course, lost that match too. My coach walked up to me later on and told me that she had decided to drop me not because of the previous losses (according to her it was the team which had failed as a whole and no fault could be ascribed to any single individual) but I was dropped because she could not afford to have a goalkeeper who had lost the desire to win and as such would not even attempt to play well. It was not losing the game, but my negativity and unwillingness to warm up and get going which had determined whether I would be part of the team or not.

Through my demeanour, I had clearly indicated to her that in my mind I had already lost the game much before stepping on the field. As a coach, her duty was to send onto the field a team which was willing to at least try till the final whistle, even though the odds were clearly stacked against us!

This happened nearly 20 years ago, but I have never forgotten that lesson. The reality in life is that one has to keep trying ceaselessly and continuously in whatever one undertakes. Wins and losses will be part of every endeavour, but to give up at any stage, until the very end, cannot be an option.

As managers and executives, every day there will be something that will not go our way, but we have to keep pushing, striving and trying. Whether in giant steps or in inches, the only way to move is forward.

And the first battle to win is the one in our minds. We create ghosts in our minds and presuppose the worst. ‘I will not be part of the team,’ ‘I will lose my job,’ ‘my boss hates me,’ ‘this project will be taken away from me,’ and so on. And the ghosts become concrete truths to us, notwithstanding the reality, which maybe very different.

And as my hockey story indicates, that attitude becomes the first step we take towards self-inflicted failure, pushed into that direction only by our own insecurities. While the ending could have been so different had we decided to approach things with a Chak De spirit!

(The writer is CEO, Radio City.)

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