A man's reach should exceed his grasp
Or what's a heaven for?
Or what's a heaven for?
- Robert Browning
And for my own version, one should always aim for the sky so that if you fall, you fall on a coconut tree. But if you aim for the coconut tree and you fall, you will end up on the floor … ;-)
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The intention of playing for the school or winning a championship was not in my mind when I first picked up squash. I played initially because I needed an ECA, and subsequently because it was fun.
As I improved, I started wondering about how good I could be. I looked at my seniors and had that very strong sense of possibility that I could play like them one day. Afterall they too picked up squash with zero background when they were Sec Ones. I decided to go down more regularly for trainings so that I could make faster progress.
As I climbed up the Sec Ones’ ladder, I started thinking about being the best player in my batch. Why be anything else but the best? I have that competitive streak in me and I knew it was a realistic target. I kept a quiet focus on my goal and trained hard to achieve it. The strong competitive environment in the entire RGS squad kept me motivated. Other than my own batch mates, there were always other seniors to chase after.
I guess what differentiated the best from the rest in the end was the desire and the belief. The desire to be excellent … the desire to be No 1 … the belief that it could be done. There were numerous amongst us that had a strong desire and Ansari helped to ignite the belief. He saw the potential in all and constantly told us that we could become great players if we were to decide to. He put into us malleable youngsters, thoughts of limitless possibilities not to be pursued by the faint hearted. His esoteric way of coaching and emphasis on creative competition somehow allowed me to build that inner belief and confidence as I grew with the sport.
Looking back, I suppose right from Day 1, he has always egged us to be a soaring eagle …
A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.
Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of his strong golden wings.
The old eagle looked up in awe. “Who’s that?” he asked.
“That’s the eagle, the king of birds,” said his neighbour. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth – we’re chickens.” So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s he thought he was.
Enjoy the freedom of flight.
