Reluctant to go to his tennis court, I persuaded Anvay to play his match and do not miss his practice session. When he did not agree, I accompanied him to the tennis court.
By the time we reached to the ground, his coach had gone with other students for stretching and running exercise. We had to wait for some time, till his coach arrived.
Excited to see tennis balls and racquets in front of me, I picked up one and motivated Anvay to play with me. Intentions were very pure, to engage him, uplift his mood and show him that his mom could also play.
He picked up a green ball, serviced and I responded to his shots. Hardly did I know the rules of the game, how to hold a racquet in proper way and how to respond to the opponent (I learnt this term from Anvay). Anyhow, we played for couple of minutes. More than him, I could say, I enjoyed the play.
When the coach came, he saw our play, in his words, our game. Soon he asked Anvay why he didn’t give the beginners ball to me, since I was a beginner and must use that ball to play.
It took me little time to understand, but I was stuck. The lesson came sharp. Despite being younger to me, Anavy was my senior. Senior because he practices his game every day, understands his game, knows about his game .
Practice demarcates masters and champions! To play for fun is different but to master the game, one needs hard work and perseverance. After years of practice, fun, play and game, all become one!
It happens that we have interest in many fields in our lives but mere our interest in that field does not make us expert in those fields.
To be a master, we must know the field, have knowledge of that field, gather experience and then practice it everyday with a coach or a mentor.
It might be possible that we come across many young ones in our lives and consider that by being older in our age, we have more knowledge and expertise. Of course we do have. But in our field and not in their field. To remove this mask ‘I know it all’ is important.
Expertise in the field is determined by the number of hours spend in practising that field. Important is to engage in deliberate and mindful practice. Gain experience by doing the things in a right way and learning immensely from our mistakes and those of others.
Age has nothing to do with intellect and talent. These days, we have seen enough of talent on TV shows. A small kid of 11 to 12 years might understand the things which a person of 40 might not.
A person of 65 years may have courage, which a young person may not have. It all depends on what you want to become and do in your desired field of interest.
It is important to have a mentor or a coach to guide and direct you. This saves a lot of time in committing errors. Experience of your mentor comes as a wealth from which you can draw immensely at the time of crisis.
Now, when you make someone as your mentor, go by the experience, knowledge and understanding of the field and not by his age. So, despite being of 35, someone of 25 can be your mentor or guide if that person has profound understanding and knowledge of the field.
Practice is something that makes difference between an amateur and a professional or master in a field. Play hard and practice like Sachin, Bruce Lee, Michael Jordan…fit in names of all great ones in your field.
But here, one point. Don’t judge people with whom you meet or learn, just love and learn from them. Everyone has something unique and distinctive to share with you, be open and receptive about that.
At the end of the day, what matters is, how well you played in your field to the best of your capacity. Not to win, not to loose, but to relish it to the fullest!
Great post Mam. Highly inspiring.