Colorful Pebbles of Parenting and Coaching

2017 is past us and today is the first day of 2018. For TallBoyK Blogging is a way of life and both are inseparable. I have authored several blogs last year and God willing I shall attempt to paint many a word in 2018. One of the resolutions of this new year is to remain positive right through the year and as useful as possible to my dear readers. So at the very outset, wishing all of us a Very Happy and Prosperous 2018.

I have always been fascinated by colorful pebbles and these are the Pebbles that I wish to share with you as well. These pebbles have been collected by me through life experiences, day to day happenings and ones that can be put to practice by each one of us. This blog is more on the lines of Parenting. My kids as any Indian child would have a fascination for the game of cricket and so they train at Gennext Cricket Academy mentored by Ravichandran Ashwin.

Prior to Gennext they have trained at other academies in the city. This is where I would want to be brutally honest and upfront. The boys would train without any sight on the matches, most of the time warming the substitute benches or serving water for their teammates. As a Father this hurt me a lot, since I felt that they were being deprived of playing the game. I was to be rudely and rightly awakened one fine day when my younger boy, all of eight years at that time, came up to me and said, how serving water was also a part of team bonding and team spirit. Pebble One collected and put into my pocket. Valuable Pebble indeed.

Not satisfied with the coaching facilities I found my true ally in Gennext where I found all that I was looking for in terms of coaching and infrastructure, but the quest for more knowledge continued. The mind was still floating around. Kind of restless. Will my son become a Player of the Stature of Ashwin because I had put my kids in an institute mentored by him? The answer would be an Unclear No, the guarantee to become a champion is not there. Put our child in sports? Yes. Allow Him to Fall in Love with the Game, Yes Yes. Two big steps taken. One more Pebble added on.

Beyond this there is Determination, Discipline, Skills, Talent, Creativity, Hard Work, Concentration that can take the young child places. Once a child falls in love with the game, the above mentioned factors fall in place on their own. I have often wondered that a child who is there training at the nets, needs a huge amount of focus to hit the ball in the right areas, to bowl the right lengths, to be in the right place and right time to catch the ball. If the same focus and concentration were to be applied in a Physics Class, it would do wonders to the child. So there is indeed a direct co-relation between sports and academics. Pebble, Colorful Pebble Time.

I spend a lot of time myself at the Cricket ground, collecting a lot of inputs and food for thought. These are the inputs that are up for discussion in this blog. Let us now go through the scenarios one by one. Admittedly there is a lot of stress that a child goes through as far as academics is concerned. However All Work and No Play makes Jack a dull boy, so he is here at the Cricket Field. I have seen cases of Parents admonishing their children for not scoring runs or taking wickets. Jack is becoming more dull.....Allow the Flower to Blossom, Do not nip it in the bud. Colorful Pebble Indeed

On the other side of the spectrum, I see the child getting pampered a lot. There are parents to carry their kit, drivers to drop them and pick them up, access to the latest devices and in general not being exposed to the harsher realities of life. Result??? Let me illustrate. Child comes late for practice, does not take the drills seriously. Everything comes to him served up on a platter and there is a lack of effort. There is serious talent mind you in the child, but the attention to detail, the lack of proper parenting has led to a situation where the child takes everything in a non serious manner. These are the kids that crack when exposed to a complex situation. Never take Life easily, you never know when you will be challenged, Train your child to face Challenges...Pebble Taken.

"You know coach my son scored, only two runs" "I will send my son for practice if he is in the final eleven"."Will my son play the next Match?" These are common questions being faced by the coach. I am of the opinion that once the child is within the ambit of the Cricket Academy he becomes a responsibility of the coach. What he does thereon is strictly between the Guru and his pupil. Whether he plays the IPL or not, whether he gets to don the national colors or not, all these become irrelevant against more important, perinent points like, acquiring valuable life skills or becoming a better human being. Leave the child to the coach,its strictly an equation between the coach and his ward, a private space where I would not venture for the sake of my child.There I have picked up one more colorful Pebble.

Found something very relevant to conclude this blog. I as a parent was very inspired by it : “Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that’s cool too.”– Pat Tyson. Last but not the least this is a parent writing this blog. All of which I have written are experiences that I have picked up on the way, it applies to me as it does to each one of us....