There is this funny thing about coaching, now and then I come across kids who coach-the-coach. Whenever I think I have learnt enough, there is always more to what meets the eye.. Let me narrate a few interesting tidbits
- I was always a short kid while I grew up(not that I am vertically spiraled up now), but once I started coaching I always thought what would I do if I had a kid who was short and voila… Even before I could complete a program in my head for such a kid I had one.. I taught him all the things I normally wouldn’t even dare to think about. Not a single thing was normal.. He went onto become India no.6 in 2014. He would have been barely 4ft, he needed to step back a few feet from net during a coin toss to see the opponent on the other side. The guy on the left near the net in yellow shirt is him.
2) There is another episode of a kid who was barely 10 yrs old who had zero physical stamina and he had to play 1 semifinals and 2 finals which accounted for 7 sets in total. I was so amazed what mental endurance can do to your physical endurance. And he won all three of ’em
The kid in Red did so that day
3) There is another episode having taken a guy for one of his first ITF’s, he lost in the final qualifying of the first week which was expected for a 14 year old international tournament entrant. Second week he pushed himself and qualified which was tremendous considering his age, then he won his first round, then he beat the sixth seed, then a 4th seed and then made it to the Semifinals of his 2nd ITF tournament and lost to the eventual winner. I learnt if you catch a good wave surf as much as you could from his run.
The guy in the dark green and Light green tshirt were of the guy from the ITF tournament
4) I always thought that if we are good at something we’ll be very so so in a few other fields and be good in a few other fields, there is this kid in my academy who was in the top Ten in India, & in Asia and was the topper in his 10th boards from his school. This kid taught me if you are smart and hard working you can do both !!
5) We always whined that if you are not a full time Tennis player you cant make it big in Tennis Nationally, there is a kid who proved me wrong and showed me that he could do both
6) How many of us would have said “My son was sick, coz of which he could not play his game and that is the reason he lost today” Well for all you let me tell you that I have kid who just wouldn’t give up for any reason even when he is down with 102 degrees of fever. I taught him how not to give up immaterial of the score in the match, he took that a notch higher and played & won even when he was super sick
7) We always said we need to be really tall to serve up aces, there is this kid who is barely 5ft who served up 10+ aces in all the matches over a week. He taught me, Not tall enough is an excuse but a good technique can cover it up
8) When all of us were lifting weights to hit powerful strokes, there was this guy who was puny and thin with zero or no muscles at all but always ended up hitting more winners than anybody in a tournament. Strategic play can do wonders is what I learnt from him!!
9) For all of us in India who said that we can go nowhere in Tennis if we are not financially sound, there was a guy who lost his father when he was barely 9 years old and achieved what 99% of the rich kids couldn’t with both parent. So I always wondered how could I ever give a reason for my failure when I teach all of them that winners never give an excuse but losers do..
10) And then there is this kid who was ranked so low that he had to play the qualifying in the Current MCC ADIDAS Under 18 NATIONALS this week of August 2019 which is the biggest national event in India. He played 3 round of qualifying rounds with 102 degrees of fever & qualified. Went into the Main draw as a NOBODY, beat a few seeded guy enroute and one among them was a INDIA NO.2 whom he beat 6-0,6-0. He went onto to the finals to script a story that would inspire not only me but my entire academy.
If it does inspire you or your kids, pls do share with them all, tell them this is not a fictitious story from me but a true story..
“The Story of Arjun Sriram“ for all of the above instances were of him. And what he did this week was PHENOMENAL..
The Times of India write up today
