Who is Mama ?
Mama is the center forward of the women's handball team of Orissa. Orissa team was participating in the recently concluded National Women National Games. I had the privildege of watching her play in a match against Kerala girls. Even though, Kerela emerged the winner by a whisker (14-12), the crowd was cheering for the Orissa girls and especially Mama for the valiant fight that they put in.
Her father is a poor fisherman in a small village near Cuttack. She was spotted early in her fifth class by the local school teacher and her name was proposed to the district level SAI authority. She devoted more time for her games without hampering her studies. Slowly, she rose from the district level ranks to play for Orissa. With proper coaching, her skills can be accentuated to push her to the national levels. Now she is in her eighth standard and is supporting her family from the stipend that she gets by playing.
Learnings from Mama
I strongly believe that Sports has a great parallels to the way we lead our life. We can learn a lot from watching a sports person. Often, we resort to studying the greats to imbibe their good qualities. We talk of how Sachin was very fastidious, Dravid , more disciplined and Laxman more gifted.
And here i am writing this piece on a lesser known emerging player and that too on a sport that has hardly any following in India. One thing which i took from watching her play was her ability to put team above than individual.
There were many instances where i could see her modifying her game to suit the convenience of other team mates. Handball is a fast game. She sometimes had to reduce her running speed so that other team mates can catch up and work in tandem. Even though couple of chances which were created by her hard work were squandered by her other team mates, she was took it sportingly.
What impressed me was that when one of her team mate was injured and required a pain reliever spray during the half time, she ran to the near by market to purchase one. She herself volunteered for the same in absence of the any support staff for the team as she knew she could run faster.
This is a picture which i took of the entire team after the match. I am not identifying who Mama was. For me, each team member was special , they played against all adversaries with a smile and unfettered determination.
Wishing them all the successes and glory for future !!!!
Mama is the center forward of the women's handball team of Orissa. Orissa team was participating in the recently concluded National Women National Games. I had the privildege of watching her play in a match against Kerala girls. Even though, Kerela emerged the winner by a whisker (14-12), the crowd was cheering for the Orissa girls and especially Mama for the valiant fight that they put in.
Her father is a poor fisherman in a small village near Cuttack. She was spotted early in her fifth class by the local school teacher and her name was proposed to the district level SAI authority. She devoted more time for her games without hampering her studies. Slowly, she rose from the district level ranks to play for Orissa. With proper coaching, her skills can be accentuated to push her to the national levels. Now she is in her eighth standard and is supporting her family from the stipend that she gets by playing.
Learnings from Mama
I strongly believe that Sports has a great parallels to the way we lead our life. We can learn a lot from watching a sports person. Often, we resort to studying the greats to imbibe their good qualities. We talk of how Sachin was very fastidious, Dravid , more disciplined and Laxman more gifted.
And here i am writing this piece on a lesser known emerging player and that too on a sport that has hardly any following in India. One thing which i took from watching her play was her ability to put team above than individual.
There were many instances where i could see her modifying her game to suit the convenience of other team mates. Handball is a fast game. She sometimes had to reduce her running speed so that other team mates can catch up and work in tandem. Even though couple of chances which were created by her hard work were squandered by her other team mates, she was took it sportingly.
What impressed me was that when one of her team mate was injured and required a pain reliever spray during the half time, she ran to the near by market to purchase one. She herself volunteered for the same in absence of the any support staff for the team as she knew she could run faster.
This is a picture which i took of the entire team after the match. I am not identifying who Mama was. For me, each team member was special , they played against all adversaries with a smile and unfettered determination.
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| Odisha Women Handball Team |
Wishing them all the successes and glory for future !!!!
1 comment:
great insights
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