A short story by Ankit Grover

Sometime ago now, I was 10 and very keen to join my high school cricket team. Due to the school being a small public school we could only afford to have one junior cricket team. And so I was nervous, even though I had been preparing for weeks. After a hearty net session where I put in my best effort I waited eagerly for the coach to call out my name. Unfortunately I was given a thumbs down. For that reason I was disappointed and confused, however I knew I could do better. I wanted to know – how could I improve for next year? And so I approached the coach and asked him for some guidance, he replied “you just have to try harder next time”. This baffled me as I knew I had put 100% in that session. As a result, at that tender age I thought I was not good enough and I never tried for the school team again.

Above all, from this experience I learnt the most important characteristic of a good coach – being supportive!