Skip to main content

Board Balls




I don't know why this drill came to my mind today.

My coach called it 'Board Balls'. I don't know what the official name is, or if even there is one.

I remember it as one of the most taxing practice drills- both mentally and stamina-wise- for me, personally. It seems strange but it's true.

I find individual drills and exercises simpler, because you have just one person to keep motivated - yourself. And you have just your own angst to face, and yourself to answer to, if and when something goes wrong.

But with 'Board Balls' and team games it's entirely different. You have more people to answer to, more people to take along. You need to save yourself but not at the cost of throwing someone else under the bus. You need to preserve your energy. It matters not just for you, but also for the team. And you can't quit. One person misses, and the entire group needs to start all over again.

The feeling of dissipating guilt as you mistakenly hit a weak board-ball which could easily have been missed by the succeeding player in your group, but thankfully, was yanked and caught- is not a feeling that can easily be forgotten. It stays with you forever- the momentary glimpse of impending jeopardy, guilt and remorse.

And you can't miss. You need to have your predecessor's back, quite literally. You can't miss catching the ball. Save the insults for later if you think they shoved it in a hurry and made things difficult. There is no time even to think of anger, let alone feel it, in this fast-paced exercise.

I remember dreading this exercise because it was all for one and one for all. If I messed up, I messed it up for everyone there. That's a lot of pressure. 

Yet, that's the very purpose of the game. Sometimes, your individual goals need to take a backseat. Sometimes, you've got to slow down, hit hard and keep the people behind and ahead of you in mind. 

I think that's an invaluable life lesson. I can feel the need for it today. Maybe- maybe, that's why it's all coming back. :)




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What the New Year Means to Me

 What does the new year mean to me? I don't know.  I think it just means that I can give myself another chance to try, fail, succeed.   I think it means that I can spend time with family, differently this time. I think it means that I can connect with people and with myself, in new ways.  I also think that it gives me a chance to see things with a different lens. The kaleidoscope becomes a periscope. I don't know what else. Every year, I put on a new pair of goggles. Every year, I grow, whether I try, or not. Some things may work as I had expected them to, some may not. But who knows?  I will allow myself to be Novak Djokovic in my arena, who hears his name when the crowd cheers for Nadal or Federer. I will allow myself to be Rafael Nadal, who always has a plan, no matter how bleak or bright things may seem, and sticks to it. I will allow myself to be Roger Federer, who glides in, serves, plays and walks out, all in grace and style. I will allow myself to b...
1 comment
Read more

Fact and Fantasy

How much is fact, and how much is fantasy? Winter mornings are dewdrops. They settle like the treble in a song, only to fade away like echoes.  I can hold them on my fingertips, but the next instant they are gone. Elusive. Just like peace. Just like people you don't really know. Come to think of it, I realize that everything in this world is transient. The barking of the dogs in the neighborhood. The incessant crying of a baby. The footsteps of the milkman. The steady, tremulous tone of someone making a point over the phone. The chatter of neighbors. Yet, only a few moments have passed before I can remind myself that transience is, after all, a tricky business. Everything appears temporary because it is warped by time and spaced into a fragment of its entirety. What appears to be a puzzle, is actually just one piece.  I am wearing the most concrete example of this irony of interconnectedness. Of permanence. Of durability. It wraps your hands and skin in the warmth of several i...
Post a Comment
Read more

(How I Wish) People Were Like Poems

Today, I wish people were more like poems.  A sad truth is dawning on me.  I can't just be. Most things just are. No proof required. No justification. Here I feel like an instance Of a class. Some kind of template  With some methods Instantiated. Many of my methods are public. Others comment on them. If I encapsulate, They pry. If I am abstract, They talk. What's going on? I'm not going to plead any more. I'll just shut all the doors. Make all the methods and variables private. Too many people tampering with the balance of it all. Our lives are not portraits or leaflets to hand out. Media often makes us feel so, but existence is way older, Authentic and organic- than the glitzy hood of social media. Human beings, like plants, need space, nourishment and nurturing To thrive. Are plants dependent on these things? Can they not stand on their own roots? They can, and they do. But you cannot neglect  The environmental variables that make them happen. So don't comment on ...
Post a Comment
Read more