Never Lose Hope

Heathnsports4u.blogspot.com guest writer spot:

                                                  Never Lose Hope:

Recently, I approached Apeksha about writing a guest post for this site, because I believe that I have a story to tell that fits right in with the main theme of the site. I know that many of you are used to visiting for a daily quote to keep you motivated at work or while training, and too read about athleticism, sport, motivation, and the success that can be achieved when those three factors are brought together in rare perfect harmony.

My name's John and I started to write recently, after I broke my neck wrestling. During one of the final tournaments of my career and after competing for almost 4 years without a single major injury, I shattered my spine in a single split second.

It was the quote in the article: "Thank You Roger Federer - A Letter to the Champion." resonated especially deeply with me.

Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.

Orison Swett Marden said this, and I believe that this is very deeply and profoundly correct. Right now, I'm more proud of what I can achieve than I ever have been in my entire life, despite the fact that I'm the weakest that I have been since I was 8 years old. I'm proud because I am successfully by Orison Marden's definition, because I have progressed so much since my accident. 6 weeks ago, I was unable to move my toes, raise my arms, or feel my legs because of the trauma to my nervous system.

Now, I can ride a bicycle, lift weights, and even go to school as a full time student. I write about my progress on my blog, but I decided that simply talking about what I was doing wasn't enough. Now, I've made it my goal to be as supportive and informative to people with similar traumas to mine, and those who have suffered much more greatly than I have.

Just like Apeksha learned lessons from Roger Federer, I have learned from my injury. These lessons are:

When you are depressed, friends will help you,
When you are weak, you will find the drive to push on,
When you have lost hope, hope will find you,
Never doubt the strength of the human spirit.

It’s been an honor writing for the site. I'm a big fan and this has been really exciting for me.Please read and share this story with everyone who has lost hope and tell them about my journey and hopefully if they can learn one thing from my experience - Never lose hope.

You can Check John  and his recovery process at GoandDoit.wordpress.com  and in a few months to read all about his adventures:  running, biking, and at the same time hopefully motivating others to do the same!

For any comments, please mail me at apekshaha@gmail.com

Also: From Michael Jordan to Roger Federer:The inevitable truth of failure and struggle to become the best.
Five Sports Personalities who Failed at First.

From Michael Jordan to Roger Federer:The inevitable truth of failure and struggle to become the best.

Failure will happen if you will live your life. But how many times can a person fail?  It doesn’t matter how many times one fails, what MATTERS is how many times someone had the chance to quit and he didn’t, because winners make the most errors as they NEVER quit. Bearing that in mind, here are some prime examples of the above statement:

1. 4 Years of struggle, 4 Years of agonizing defeats against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal before Novak Djokovic finally became World No. 1 in tennis. Conversely, 5 years of constant anguish, pain of living under the curse of not living up to his potential hung around his name and one life changing tragedy is what made Roger Federer the player he is today.

Djokovic and Federer at Wimbledon, 2012

2. Rejection from the high school basketball team, working hard daily to prove everyone wrong, becoming famous and then struggling and failing in the baseball minor League before appreciating what he had in reality is the story of the greatest basketball player ever- Michael Jordan.

One of the greatest basketball players of all time-Michael Jordan

3. From a ticket collector in Indian Railways to cycling around the town of Kharagpur to playing with tennis balls on cricket grounds, no one who had played with Mahendra Singh Dhoni even had the slightest idea that the lad from a small town of India will go on to become the best Indian Captain ever.

One of the finest captains of the India cricket team-M S Dhoni

4. Nobody gets up 6 am in the morning to play ball, But Ernie DiGregorio did and at twelve years of age,he started practicing 9-10 hours a day by himself. They could have cut his right hand off and he would have played one handed.That is why in-spite of his physical limitations: small height, chunky, slow with short arms, chubby fingers and no jumping ability – he still became NBA rookie of the year.

Ernie DiGregorio became rookie of the year despite physical limitations

There are many examples like this all around not only in the field of sports but everywhere with people who have struggled early in on their career before going on to become the best in their field. Contrary to the popular belief that the great people have had an easy life and how each and every one of us wished to be lucky enough like them and become great like our favorite sports person, the above examples are just to show the opposite. Nobody has an easy life, not even the greats themselves. They have struggles just like a normal human being, each and every day of their lives. Struggle is an inevitable part of life and it will be foolish to escape from its clutches because it is these struggles which can make you great or break you in pieces.

So what is it that separates these great ones from normal human beings? It is the ability to get back up again when they have failed. Life will knock us down but we can always choose whether or not to get up again and strive towards the goals with double intensity. Failure and Struggle will always be there in every journey. In the words of JK Rowling: “You might never fail on the scale I did. But it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.”

IF you have any questions, you can mail me at apekshaha@gmail.com

This article was published at http://sports365blog.com/2013/02/25/from-m-s-dhoni-to-roger-federer/

Also: The greatness of the living legend called Roger Federer

The Iron Lady of India – Saina Nehwal

The Iron Lady of India – Saina Nehwal

“I am working hard and performances are coming. Now that I am number 2, I will definitely reach number 1.”

What is it about Saina Nehwal that makes you believe that sooner than later, this feat, which was once thought impossible will be achieved by the young inspiring female athlete from Hyderabad, India.

She is not only the first Indian to win a medal in Badminton for India but she is also the top ranked player (women) in Indian Badminton history.She is also the highest paid non-cricketing sportsperson in India. There are many more records under her belt and she is just 22 right now.

So what is it that stands out in the case of Saina Nehwal? The biggest quality is the self -belief she has in her game, work ethic and coaching staff. It is this self-belief which has led her to penetrate the once considered invincible Chinese army in women’s badminton. She is one of the mentally strong females out there and this lack of fear of anyone has led her to achieve the rising heights in her field.

Saina won the bronze in the London Olympics, 2012

She recently said in her autobiography that she never thinks that she is up against a formidable Korean or Chinese. Whenever she plays them, she keeps reminding herself of the fact that she has defeated seniors who were 23-24 when she was just 13.

This lack of fear is what has enabled her to penetrate the Chinese territory and make herself a reckoning force in badminton today. If we look deep in the history of sports all over the world, it is this self- belief and lack of fear towards the best that has made them the champions in the world.

Be it Novak Djokovic who famously said in 2007 that he can beat Fedal or Saurav Ganguly who challenged the traditional politeness prevalent in the Indian Cricket team by his aggressive captaincy – one can find innumerable examples of champions who have believed in themselves and have reiterated that they can defeat the best of best in the game.

But the big question is how does this self-belief come? Is it just born in a single day or is it inherent? I believe that it is neither of those. It comes after one toils hard, day in and out overcoming daily obstacles to achieve their goal and to see those small improvements day by day. It comes when one has a strong work ethic and passion to get themselves up even after the many failures encountered.

One can listen to Saina Nehwal’s interviews or what her coach Pullela Gopichand has to say off his obedient student, you will be amazed to find that she has never missed a practice session or tried to take a short cut in her trainings. Her day starts off at 6 AM and she know that following the work ethic holds the key for achieving her goals. Even after her heart crushing loss in quarterfinals in 2008 Beijing Olympics, when she was asked to report for practice the following day by Gopichand at 6 AM, all she requested was “Can we start at seven instead of six”? (Taken from the book – Saina Nehwal: An Inspirational Biography by Sudhir T S).

Saina Nehwal is currently ranked World No.2

When I first read this, I wondered how such a thing was possible. She just came back from a devastating loss and it would have been ok to take a break for some time. Not many can sum up the courage to work the following day after a loss, determined to make sure the next time, they are successful. And in Saina’s case, it was exactly 4 years after: she achieved her dream of winning her medal in Olympics.

If this one example can give you a glimpse of Saina — her strong character, her willingness to work hard daily to make sure she is the best, her constant self-belief in her abilities — then I am sure you can now understand why I back her up when I say that “Yes, Indeed one day Saina Nehwal will be No.1 in the world.”

And what does Saina Nehwal herself have to say on this issue:

“The world No.1 is Chinese, with almost 12,000 points more than me. It is not easy to become world No.1. But I will try my best. Nothing is impossible. I have made many things possible, so I hope I can make this one too. The amount of hard work which I put in my game is really important. Motivation comes from winning and that is what keeps me going,”

So now I know why they say that “ALL THE GOOD STUFF IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TIRED”.

If you have any questions, You can mail me at apekshaha@gmail.com

This article was first published by Apeksha HA at http://sports365blog.com/2013/02/15/the-iron-lady-of-india-saina-nehwal/

The greatness of the living legend called Roger Federer

                 “Greatness is not born, it grows”

It was 10^th September,2011 which made me look back and see Roger Federer in a new light. Before that, he was indeed the player who no doubt had this innate talent, who could do just about everything he wished to do on court. He was like the Harry Potter of the tennis court who could create magic with his tennis wand and leave everyone spellbound with the results achieved.

Until Wimbledon arrived where he lost in the quarterfinals and then  followed it with the heartbreaking and humiliating loss to Novak Djokovic after being up two match points. Everyone knew something was wrong. Most of the critics predicted the end of his career, citing the rise of new champions like Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. How can one forget Rafael Nadal who of course has been his arch nemesis on the court?

Federer’s arch nemesis- Rafael Nadal

At times I look at myself and think about the path I would have taken if in the same shoes?  One, I would have been to fall back on my laurels and continue to live on my past glories ignoring the signs of a breakdown somewhere and  just keep on trying to ignore the defeats as just another bad day in office. Another would have been to hang my racquet and move on to a new career. Last but not the least was another option which would have been to go back and reflect on what went wrong, work upon the weaknesses that had crept up in the game and come back rejuvenated.

What did Roger Federer do? Roger Federer took the famous six week break to do just what his wife Mirka had suggested and the rest is history. Since that break, he has won 8 titles, One Grand Slam and Olympic Silver Medal and claimed World No. 1 ranking in a span of 15 months.

To be exact: This is what Mirka told him: “It’s O.K. to lose one or two matches very closely, but you can’t start losing more and more and more. Then maybe something’s wrong in your corner. So you just have to question yourself and check with the entire team, see what everybody thinks.’

That is why I say greatness is not born, it grows. Mind you, we are talking about a player here who is 31.5 years old now and still there is no sign of wear and tear on his body.  Take a moment to pause and look at these facts:

1) Former World No. 1s like Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and John McEnroe were unable to win a Grand Slam past 30.

2) Rod Laver who won all four Slams at age 31, never made it to another major semi-final.

3) Federer played back to back 5 set matches in Australian Open 2013 and still didn’t complain of fatigue as the reason for loss in the semi-final. Andy Murray , 6 years younger than Federer, on the other hand after losing the finals complained about fatigue being one of the reason for the  loss since he had played Federer in a 5 set match in the semifinals.

I can go on and on about the records of Roger Federer and pages will not be enough.  Unlike Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, he was a late bloomer who won his first GS at the age of 22. Since then he has won 16 more grand Slams. What stands out to me is the commitment this great champion has shown even at the age of 30+ when the so called experts call it an age of retirement. Has this been an easy ride for him? Certainly not, what many fail to see is the effort that has gone into keeping Roger Federer as the player that he is today. Fit as a 20 year old and sharp as a razor, he still does two to four hours of intense training every day in the scorching heat of Dubai during off season and then add to it few more hours of fitness training with his team. Not to mention, he has to keep up his media commitments, commercials (according to Forbes Magazine, Federer is the second-most trusted athletic brand in the world) and at the same time is also a devoted family person who is happy to help his wife around the house, play with his twins and put them to sleep every night.

As the great Rod Laver once said, “There’s really no substitute for hard work, for putting in all that practice and time.” Roger Federer is no exception, his flawless tennis which continues to dazzle each and every one of us is a result of the hours and hours of practice that has gone in improving his game and fitness. Sure there are going to be times when he will suffer losses that will be frustrating, shocking, unexpected but the only way I see him reacting to such situations will be to grow even more and comeback even more determined to achieve his goals, to come up with results as extraordinary as he did in 2012 because Napoleon Hill once said: “Most great people have achieved their success just one step beyond the doors of failures.”

And in my mind: Roger Federer definitely falls in that category of people.

This article was first published at http://sports365blog.com/2013/02/07/the-greatness-of-the-living-legend-called-roger-federer/ by Apeksha HA

If you have any questions, you can mail me at apekshaha@gmail.com

Also: From Michael Jordan to Roger Federer:The inevitable truth of failure and struggle to become the best.