The zeal and enthusiasm says it all

One thing in the field of journalism that is both exciting and nerve-wracking is the fact that in the course of compiling and writing articles, we will come across a lot of youngsters and kids (at least this is the case with regard to sports) whose enthusiasm and vigour adds a lot of flavour and value to both the article you are writing and your life.

I, during the course of writing the first three articles for specialization, came across a few such young and budding players. I saw a lot of passion, involvement, commitment and zeal in their games and in the conversation that followed. What struck me the most was the willingness to learn and the eagerness to put in the extra hour of hard work in order to reach their day’s goal.

The one other thing that made me realize that the future of Indian sports is indeed going in the right direction is the fact that the parents, though might be concerned about the health of the kids, are very open minded and are as enthusiastic as the kids in watching as they learnt the sport better. They cheered for them during the games, their hands clenched together in an attempt to staff their nervousness. Their smiles and their tears are indeed contagious. Such is the support I see from the parents of kids today.

On interacting with Arrvind Balaganesh, an under 19 national level Table Tennis player, I understood that the positivity and the zeal that the coach brings into you is one of the factors which guides you. The respect he had for his coach was inspiring and I could see a great future for the kid.

Another interesting experience was with Rochna Gopalakrishnan, who represents Tamil Nadu in Tennis in the under-13 level. For a 13 year old kid, her maturity was over-whelming and it was a delight to get to talk to her. Her views on why there were less number of women in the field of tennis or any other sport for that matter, the change that the society needs were fascinating to hear.

At the end of it, I walked out, happy that the future is in such enthusiastic hands, knowing full well that we have winners and pretty amazing ones at that!