sports

Sanjay Manjrekar: Purity of skill

“When it comes to Test cricket, like the purity of its concept, what is also needed is purity of skill. Hence, a pure batsman or a pure bowler is precious, because he has focused on only one skill all his life, so he is very good at it.” 

—Sanjay Manjrekar. 

Saina Nehwal: Likes

“… I get over a million likes when I meet our political leaders or film actors; I get around a few lakh likes on winning matches,  or for snaps from monuments or foreign landmarks.” 

—Saina Nehwal. 

Billie Jean King: Sports

​”Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life.”

—Billie Jean King. 

Jonah Lomu: Never been fully fit

​”I always say to people that you have never seen the best of me, and that’s what I mean – I’ve never been fully fit.”

—Jonah Lomu. 

Rahul Verghese: Training

“​Long distance running is like business. Training in the last quarter is what is important; history is history, which the mind and body soon forget.” 

—Rahul Verghese. 

Rahul Verghese: Smiling

“Smiling helps de-stress — it is a simple tool we have been blessed with but one we don’t use adequately. We mistakenly think that the world will collapse if we don’t remain absolutely serious about life!” 

—Rahul Verghese. 

Rahul Verghese: Resuming training

“… if you are a regular marathoner and run two to three marathons a year evenly spaced out and take a three-month break from running, you need to resume your training on the ground floor of the training schedule. Do not try to start from where you left off, even if you have been an active cyclist or swimmer during the gap period. Each sport uses different muscles and needs a different focus.”

—Rahul Verghese. 

Joe Henderson: Look back

​“You also need to look back, not just at the people who are running behind you but especially at those who don’t run and never will . . . those who run but don’t race . . . those who started training for a race but didn’t carry through . . . those who got to the starting line but didn’t reach the finish line . . . those who once raced better than you but no longer run at all. You’re still here. Take pride in wherever you finish. Look at all the people you’ve outlasted.”

— Joe Henderson. 

Rahul Verghese: Unlearning

​”A third, and more basic, level of unlearning in order to learn is when having learnt on your own, and reached a certain stage, you then plan to take a quantum leap . Often we realize that what is required is not harder work, but a smarter way of doing the same thing.”

—Rahul Verghese. 

Rahul Verghese: Basic principles

​”… you may find these basic principles can be applied to your work and to managing your workload: 

■ Never try and do the same thing repeatedly if you are trying to improve. 

■ Look at a holistic build- up and focus on different weak links. 

■ Do not work to exhaustion but work towards a build-up scientifically and sensibly, so that come the big day, you are ready to be firing on all cylinders.

 ■ Rest adequately. 

■ And . . . you can write in your very own set of learnings.”

—Rahul Verghese.