Bitter the defeat, Sweeter the Victory

I am an average Sportsman. I have played and still try to play many sports. I've attended coaching camps for Cricket, Tennis, Badminton and Basketball when I was in school. Some lasted more than the others, but I would say that was more due to my aversion to fixed schedules and timings. This aversion also made me miss many of my academic lectures and private coaching classes. That's one of the reason why I'm a fan of the "flexi-timing" policy in my company right now, though some would say I do push it a bit far some times. But coming back to all the sports which I've played competitively, I would never call myself above average in any of them. Apart from eating a lot of food in a single go, there aren't many things which come naturally to me. Even that talent doesn't seem too awesome after seeing episodes of Man v/s Food.

Though I am average, I am also proud that I have represented my school, college and company in Cricket, Basketball, Football, Handball and Netball at various times in my life. Obviously that brings to mind the thought that the teams which I have been a part of were not really good. That might indeed be a fair call if you look at win-loss records. I have rarely been part of teams who have dominated their leagues like the earlier Australian Cricket team or the current Spanish football team. Most of the times I've been part of teams which don't have resources (human or monetary), struggle to come up with players even on a match day, don't have adequate bench strength and who get the worst luck in terms of draws or refereeing. However this is not at all a rant about the teams that I've been part of over the years. I feel lucky and privileged to have played with my team mates over the years.

I call myself lucky because had I been part of a dominating team I am sure I would not have played so many games. Some times it's good to be a big fish in a small pond as you get that many more opportunities. But I was definitely privileged since I got to play with team mates who despite all the odds of being an underdog, played beyond their potential and showed terrific fighting spirit to come up with some spectacular wins. 

I've listed 3 of those wins below, all of them from inter college Basketball matches. There were many more in various sports but to limit the size of this post I had to hand pick these.

• Modern College of Engineering v/s Army Institute of Technology (Basketball) - This is was one of the best victories we've had in four years of engineering. This match was played in our Second Year (2006) where as usual we were the under dogs. The match started badly for us and we were down by many points when an unusual 3 pointer from almost half way down the court brought us back. We went on to win the close match and it gave us great belief that we can win even when we're down by many points. The best part was headlines in newspapers the next day which said "Engineers beat Army men" and "Engineers stand tall".
• Modern College of Engineering v/s PVG (Basketball) - This was Modern's biggest upset in Basketball till the year 2008. PVG was tradionally a very strong team and it was a team which I had deep respect for. They played fair, ran a lot and had excellent coordination. We had always been on the losing side against them but in this one match everything came together for us. It was a big upset and one of our biggest wins. I didn't play a single second in this match but enjoyed every moment of it. I have in fact been on the bench a lot of times. Many times people who don't play sports competitively have asked me what's the use of being on the bench. They say it's better not to play if you're going to be on the bench. I pity these people because they don't understand what it takes to be a part of a team and how important the bench is to a team. All great teams have one necessary quality - their bench is very strong.
• Modern College of Engineering v/s College Of Engineering Pune (Basketball) - This is clearly the best match I've played in. We were playing at the the COEP ground, in their own tournament and in front of more than 200 partisan engineering students. It was them against 10 of us along with a few loyal supporters. Needless to say we were totally out numbered and being heckled continuously. The match started horribly for us. At the end of the first quarter the score was 17-2. In the second half we slowly started our comeback and towards the end we were neck to neck. So much so that the match went in over time. One over time wasn't enough and the match went to double over time. In that period our captain and best player twisted his ankle and was replaced by a rookie. But enduring everything we won and in the end the only noise in the stadium was the celebration of the 10 players and their supporters.

I believe that playing team games competitively has advantages beyond the obvious ones of exercise and competing. It teaches you a lot more than you realize. But the most important thing which it teaches is how to lose. I think it's important to know that in life, you may not win all the time and sometimes the only thing you can do is give your best. I have nothing against individual games but to me the feeling of celebrating a hard fought win with your team mates is unmatched. Even though I've been on the losing side many times, I have had my fair share of victories. And it is the knowledge and experience of losing which makes these victories even sweeter. In the end I believe that if you can say "I gave my 100% ...." it doesn't matter what comes next.