Smaash!!!

My love for sports has taken me to watch the Mumbai Super League held at the NSCI Worli, which is a local, IPL style league for Table Tennis. It is a ten team franchise based league, with each franchise bidding IPL style for players. Apparently this is the second year for the league; I came to know of the same, only because my batch-mate Samir Thakkar owns a team Kool Smashers.

While the IPL is a money spinning machine, there is no way any franchisee or anybody can make any money out of this event. The franchise owners are people in love with the game, who get a high from playing. They are investing money in a real sense to give it back to the sport. The total purse available for bidding for players is a princely sum of Rs. 80,000 which is to be used for buying 6 players.

I think it is a great move which inculcates team spirit in a sport which is largely individualistic. It was fantastic to see 70 players, the team owners, the coaches, parents of the players and a whole lot of people who are interested in the sport coming and watching. For me personally it was a great learning experience watching matches sitting with the team, speaking to the players, coaches and interacting with them.

What was heartening is there was no ugly rivalry, as everybody knew everybody. While there was aggression on the table, everyone was friendly. Rival teams sat next to each other, indulged in banter and technical discussions. It was extremely heartening to see a senior member from the opponent team, come and encourage the cadet – the kid who is less than 10 years. Every good point was cheered. It was great competition with camaraderie.

One thing that struck me was what happened after the end of the match. In an unwritten protocol, the winner; after shaking hands with the opponent and umpires, went to the opposition benches and shook hands first with the opposition coach and their team members, before being congratulated by their own team.

I am amazed by the values that this four day event is teaching people. During a side conversation, my friend Samir taught me a huge aspect, something which struck me very hard. He said, every kid should play a sport, as it teaches them how to cope with failure. The casual conversation had a deep impression on my mind. In a format like this, failure, bounce back and redemption is instantaneous. The junior team has to play doubles as their first match and half an hour later come back to play the singles. I was amazed, how the players were able to put back the defeat out of their mind instantaneously and come back motivated to play the singles.

In Corporate Life, one failure, one bad conversation with the manager spoils the rest of the day. Carpe Diem or Live in the Moment is really what sport teaches people. One bad shot, one mishit, one bad judgement, has to be put away instantaneously only to focus on the next point. Samir… thanks a lot for this, I am definitely going to ensure my son plays some sport.

While I am watching this over Wimbledon, a quote from Serena Williams caught my attention. For long there has been a debate about equal prize money for women in sport. In tennis the matches are three sets long for women, while five sets for men. Physically men are supposed to be better than women in any sport. With this aspect at the back of mind, an incident at the table tennis league, sparked my imagination, which led to this post.

For this league, the organisers have introduced an innovation – the power play. In doubles, the team can use the power play to change one of the players for two points… only to receive the serve. For example in a team of say Ajay and Atul, if Atul is to receive the serve, Ajay can call a power play, and get another member of his team to receive two serves in place of Atul.

In one of the mens doubles matches, Paresh Murekar called the powerplay. His team was up game point at 11-10. In a very close match the next point was very crucial. He asked the veteran player to wait and called the junior girls player to take serve. I personally was amazed at the decision. One, he was replacing a men’s player with a girl, in a discipline, which is inherently sexist. In any mixed doubles game, the women player is generally the weakest. Secondly, he did not call the women’s player, but the girl’s player, a junior. Whatever the outcome of the game, I thought it was a gutsy decision. If they won the point, Paresh would be a hero, if they lost it, he could be a villain in a tight game. Paresh Murekar take a bow, for taking such a decision on game point. If I was a recruiter, I would have hired Paresh on the spot. It is a different matter that they won the game.

I then look back at corporate, and wonder, whether when faced with a crunch situation, would I depend on experience or youth. 99 times out of hundred it will be experience, and then I wonder whether the corporate world can learn something from sport.

I am waiting for the day, when we form a team in companies which is an amalgamation of people with all levels of experience, and the best person leads it, and not the senior most. Till then.. Carpe Diem.