Learning From Lakshya
It was hard to sleep last night. A certain numbness crept in, following Lakshya Sen’s heartbreaking loss in the Olympics bronze medal match. The type of numbness that follows a period of emotional upheaval, a sign of the body’s defence mechanism to cope with hurt and loss.
An emotional roller-coaster ride triggered by the sheer joy of watching a 22 year old take on the best in the world with the poise and stature befitting a veteran champion. The agony of seeing him lose his way in the 2nd game of the bronze medal match (after dominating the first game) and being unable to recover. The pain in former Olympian Viren Rasquinha’s voice (who, through Olympic Gold Quest, has supported Lakshya’s growth for many years) as he choked up during the post-match TV panel. The frustration and disappointment evident in Prakash Padukone’s words to the media (still raw and reeling from what he just witnessed sitting in Lakshya’s dugout).
Lakshya has kept his chin up and held his head high throughout the tournament. To see him with his head bowed down during the post-match interview — at a loss for words, holding back the tears, was excruciating.
How does one recover from this? Where does one go from here?
It’s been a privilege for us at my organization Co.labx to watch Lakshya train at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy over the last few months. To go through the daily grind, surrounded by his teammates, coaches, family and support staff. And a nurturing ecosystem created by the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence and Olympic Gold Quest, among others. My heart goes out to all of them and they have so much to be proud of.
During one of our workshops, we asked Lakshya’s father DK Sen (also a coach at the Padukone Academy) about his approach to coaching and mentoring young athletes.
He said there are 5 building blocks for mastery in the game of badminton.
The first is the physical — embodied by Lakshya’s extraordinary speed and agility, his wall-like defence, and his seemingly infinite stamina to cover all four ends of the court.
Then there is the technical — seen in Lakshya’s deft strokes, his soft dribbles at the net, his half-smashes, and the tight angles he was able to achieve.
Third there is the tactical — evident during his wins over Jonatan Christie (the current All England Open Champion) and Chou Tien-chen (the former world #2) — the ability to understand the opponent and the context, to play to one’s strengths and attack their weaknesses, to keep them off balance, and to not allow them to build a rhythm.
Finally there is the psychological — in full view during his match with the reigning Olympic champion and a Goliath of the sport Victor Axelsen, where he came out firing on all cylinders, with a positive mindset to dominate the play. Where he played flawlessly to reach 20–17, only to lose 3 game points in quick succession (a massive mental blow for any athlete). Only to then bounce back and lead 7–0 in the 2nd game, leaving Axelsen confused and bewildered. Indicating an ability to shrug off the past, to reset, and to be back in the moment.
“You have shared 4 components with us. What is the 5th?” I remember one of us curiously asking Coach DK Sen.
Coach Sen looked at all of us and after a pause replied:
The 5th component is the spiritual
“The spiritual? What does that mean?! Aren’t we talking about the game of badminton here?”
Coach Sen smiled and (with an expression not unlike Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda) explained “That is not for me to say but for each person to discover for themselves.”
After last night, I think I have a slightly better understanding of what he meant :)
What is becoming clearer to me is that in the coming days and weeks, the spiritual will be the single most important factor for Lakshya to contend with. He will no doubt continue to train hard and improve on the physical, the technical, the tactical, and the psychological. But if he and his team are to recover from this loss, to heal from this hurt, to be back fighting for gold, the spiritual dimension will be an arena he will need to step into and play in.
As Coach Sen mentioned, the spiritual dimension is deeply personal and for each individual to find for themselves.
But maybe in Lakshya’s case, it will be to know that he is truly blessed. Blessed to be doing what he loves. Blessed to be doing that ever since he was a young child. Blessed to be doing that while surrounded by a nurturing family. Blessed to have some of the world’s best coaches committed to his progress and growth. Blessed to be physically healthy and at the peak of human performance. Blessed to have a nation behind him whose minds and hearts he has captured.
Or maybe the spiritual for Lakshya will be to remember, after the dust settles, that this is just a game. That while it might have felt like life and death on the court, there is a vast expanse of life and death beyond the court. And that while there are millions watching him play and experiencing his joy and pain, there are millions more for whom this game and the Olympics is a pretty insignificant part of their lives. They will wake up this morning and ask — Who Lakshya? What Olympics?
Or maybe the spiritual for Lakshya will be to find solace in the Gita that has served as a reservoir of inspiration for many. And while continuing to pursue his external target of gold, to more deeply explore the other side of the journey that lies within.
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
[A sportsperson’s abridged version of the above text might look something like — ‘focus just on the next ball, not the scorecard’]
Or maybe the spiritual for Lakshya will be in just coming back home, giving rest to his tired body and mind, eating the food that he might be longing for after 2 weeks in Paris, and letting time do its thing.
Either way, I can’t help but feel a great deal of gratitude for Lakshya and his team for leaving it all on the court, for lighting up the highlight reels, and injecting a new dose of hope and belief into Indian badminton that will fuel all the youngsters who woke up early this morning to train.
I also can’t help but feel grateful for this gift we call the Olympics, that time and again shows us what it means to be human and what it looks like for humanity to come together.
But most of all, I am grateful for this extraordinary human invention we call sport — that serves as a microcosm for life. And reminds me of the spiritual dimension of the game we all play, both on and off the court.
