I just knew that I had to give it a shot, I had to see if soft tennis was indeed my true calling. Very excitedly, I requested the players to let me play a few serves. And, I was good at it!!
I glided through the serves effortlessly. I guess I was wasting my time on the bench, over the wrong sport. The kiddish aspiration to become like Sachin Tendulkar, faded away and a new desire filed me; to become a successful soft tennis player. I started coming their daily and began my coaching for the game. My colleagues used to tease me a lot about my appearance and how I am so unfit for this game, and this started to get to me. All this teasing and years of sitting on the bench, actually started making me believe that I was never good at anything and I don’t deserve it. My lack of self confidence and esteem was reflecting in my game too. My coach who had known and trained me in this sport for almost two years now, saw what affect all this had on me.
My coach, Mr. Basu expressed his concerns to my father. He explained how the two years of rigorous training and hard work will go to waste, if I don’t feel confident. I was about to participate in my first external competition next week. And so, my father decided to boost my moral and make me believe in myself again.
My dad took me shopping that day and we went to a Vans Heusen showroom; he asked the salesman to bring out the best joggers and t-shirts they had. I protested saying “dad I have a sports jerseys, I don’t need a new one”. When I started trying on the sportswear, my father started talking about how it is absolutely important to feel confident in your skin and how I transformed myself into such an amazing athlete and I shouldn’t be bothered about what the world thinks and says. I should keep my focus straight on the goal. When I came out of the trial room, I was a changed man. I felt a new confidence oozing inside of me. I suddenly found myself looking smarter and more confident than ever in that new sportswear.
My trials for the under 16 state soft tennis tournament went amazing and I still have that sportswear to constantly remind me of what my father taught me and how it is very important to overcome your inner obstacles to achieve something marvellous in life.
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