Does it matter?

Recently, Indian team lost in the t20 world cup and got out in a way nobody had predicted. Similar to that it lost to New Zealand in the WTC final. Similar results had followed in the last ODI world cup. Similar pattern followed with our teams in recently concluded olympics-2021. We lost more than we won . The performance of our athletes was not on expected lines given the time and effort they might have put in and the kind of stuff that's available these days. The coaching , guidance, fitness routines are all available these days to most of the athletes who are at least playing at the top level, representing the country.

Though winning and losing are parts of the same game but the attitude of our cricketers after losing was like :      'it was just one off game we didn't perform', 'we tried our best', 'we're still the 2nd champions',' we lost only in the final stage so we should be proud of our efforts' . Their statements smell of complacency and an attitude that is unlikely of a winner. Winners don't keep making excuses one after the other. They work on their fault areas. Time is ripe they let off their ego and show performance on expected lines. If a country having such a large population can't be better than smaller countries with lesser GDP(as seen in olympics) or having best of the facilities(as seen in cricket) and still be performing poor in biggest tournaments then there is something wrong in the mindset of the athletes that needs to be corrected.

Of late, I've been seeing this sort of 'excuse making game' everywhere. People seem to justify things as if they are not at all responsible for their loss. Of course, some things are beyond our control but that doesn't mean we blame everything around us except we ourselves. Most of the reasons that are responsible for our loss lie within ourselves than outside. Of course, the easiest explanation of our loss is mental health. We say we're depressed and there it is the end of the story. In some cases, it might be true but in majority it's just an excuse to get sympathy. People start sympathizing and mind you these sort of failed people have high expectations of sympathy. They talk all the shit in the surrounding that stopped them from achieving success. But, can't look inside because they tried everything best. Really? If you are losing something time and again then there is one of the two problems or maybe both:

1. You are not meant for the game.                                                                                                                                                          2. You are not headed in the correct direction.                                                                                                                                    In both cases, it is you who needs to assess and accept things after introspection and change whatever needs to be changed.                                                                                                                                                                                                    One good example of this is Ravi Dahiya who wasn't at all happy and satisfied after winning silver in olympics as he knew such feats(and not gold) had been achieved earlier by Indians and straightaway said he will prepare for Gold next time. This is the confidence and course correction mentality we need. His preparation mentally began right at the failure(or success). If he stays focused enough, I'm sure he is winning it the next time.

There is also an increasing trend of people celebrating all shits of failures , time and again. And which is more, they love failures so much so that they have almost learned to settle with them. After the cricket match losses or that in olympics, there started a trend of : "We still love you, They won the match you won our heart, That one match won't define our team, We are proud of you, wow we won bronze, Our girls did good in hockey- we at least managed fourth place, Excitement among people when PV Sindhu won bronze- infinte level ". Should we celebrate the lost gold or the tournament we lost or just celebrate whatever comes to us? Let me better frame it: Do we play for spots other than the best? Do we expect only this much from our athletes? Do we think they are lesser than others and just their entry into olympics need to be celebrated? If yes, our attitudes are seriously misplaced and results are on the expected lines that we are losers and can't do more. We're so much engaged in building the morale(after failure) that even the players think they did great and put out their best which might give them a false sense of satisfaction. This won't bring their correct picture to them. What is more disastrous for improvement than false sense of satisfaction ? It fuels the ego which shouldn't have been even the part. Problem with ego is that we fail to see our mistakes and hence fail to correct. Constructive criticism is necessary which we don't do because : TREND and NORM . Either we shower extra sympathy or too much hate- We need to walk a middle path. Anyways, if you are always happy with 2nd ,3rd,4th and participation place then result will never be in the favor of top spot. The 1st place has it's own set of requirements which needs to be filled to be standing at the spot. If losers will keep getting celebrated , can we develop a winner? The will to be the best comes not from sympathies but from intense grit and ruthless work ethic, be it anything.

We are also wrong at celebrating the winner so much so that (s)he becomes a model for any x y z cos. promoting their shitty stuffs with shitty roles they are not trained to do. why? Because (s)he has achieved success and there is nothing beyond that. Everyone wants to get associated with the success and wash their hands by showering some money and gifts to be called good promoters of the game. Actually, these tycoons are promoting themselves alongside the winner. Everybody stands in the race of throwing money to the winner. Be it the public money by politicians or private money of the corporates all for their own vested interests. All of a sudden we intrude into the life of such people that they start feeling like GOD . Everywhere journalists follow them , newsflashes about the food they ate, the time they slept, the gf or bf they have, personal and private questions, etc. Useless stuffs get 'flushed' on TV and people as they have all the time in the world to waste it in knowing all the personal life details of such people as if it becomes a necessary thing for their routine discussions over tea. We need to stop giving instant gratifications to our athletes if we are really to succeed at international level. They will lack motivation and will become rude and egoistic with such God-like treatments and won't be able to produce results next time just because it becomes hard for them to concentrate on the main goal which used to be the passion of that person before (s)he met with a lot of paisa . Public Money should be spent but not only on a particular player, but more so for the development of the game if they really care about it.

Total medals won by India in olympics till 2016 was 28, same as Michael Phelps who played till 2016 olympics. Till date India has won 10 gold medals and guess what Phelps has 23 alone .Comparison is important because I'm comparing the whole nation with all it's history against just one man, just to mention the fact how far we are behind in understanding what success demands.One can easily criticize the government for the lack of facilities being one of the reasons for our failure. it might be one reason. But, we have enough facilities in cricket- Still, how many world cups? But, we won even when we didn't had enough ,right? In 1983. Our hockey team didn't have much facilities when we won 8 golds in olympics the last one coming in 1980. We had Milkha Singh in 1950s-60s , how many facilities were then available? The facilities currently are much better and those playing at the top are given utmost facilities the respective federations can afford. The push has to come from the players and that is why it's needed not to celebrate losses and not to over-celebrate the one or two wins here and there and get satisfied. Otherwise, our best examples will remain the old ones who couldn't achieve the best position anyways.

Also needs a mention of the fact that People now-a-days follow: "I will remain the same as I am, No matter what ". This is ego at the best and such kind of things have been propagated over social sites and movies time and again. Even, some good lessons taught in movies were implemented quite to the contrary. In real life, we need to be continually changing to adapt and be adept at corresponding skills. Course correction is what is needed and for that we need to change ourselves as per the requirement of the objective we want to achieve, only then we can excel.

In this fast-paced world, it is important to walk on the chosen path with self-belief , time-bound results, goal-focussed and ruthless winning mentality. Because, no matter how much you console yourself with 2nd and 3rd and nth position, if you keep identifying and adjusting with the results then you will be a loser from inside no matter what the world treats you like. Loser because you had a chance to bring utmost justice to the time you spent on the objectives , loser because you could have achieved the best with your body and mind but you denied yourself that chance maybe because you were ill-focussed, maybe because you were complacent with yourself, maybe you didn't push harder than you could have, maybe the motivations lacked somewhere, maybe you got scared or maybe you set your goals too little, whatever be the reasons but if you set a foot on the road to be the best that you feel you can be, then anything short of that target will haunt you a lot and you might end up setting wrong footprints and dull set of substandard inspirations for people to follow.

So, does winning matter?  Hell yeah!!!!! Not only winning the heart but also the set goals .