Saturday, May 19, 2007

Winning Isnt Everything


The Story is of two olympic sprint runners, and their two coaches. Coach A and Coach B, are the two coaches, with their different methods of teaching. At the end of the story, comment on what kind of coach / mentor would you like to have ?
Here is the story.. Coach A and B, trained their respective athletes and after four years of practice, the day of the big race arrived. As the runners were lining up, the runners became nervous, looking at their competitors, the best runners from around the world.
Runner A, went upto Coach A and said, "Coach, I am nervous. Suddenly, looking at all these athletes from around the world, i am wondering, if i will win the race ?" Coach A, smiled and replied, "Dont worry son. Go ahead and give your best shot, and i know that you will make it, after all winning isnt everything !" And Runner A, walks back to the start line.
Runner B, goes up to Coach B and says, "Coach, I am nervous. Suddenly, looking at all these athletes from around the world, i am wondering, if i will win the race." Coach B smiled and replied, "Can you see those 4 men in black, near the finish the line ?", "Yes," Runner B replied, after catching a glimpse of 4 men dressed in black tuxedos. "They are waiting for you at the finish line. If you do not finish first, they will break your legs with the hockey sticks they are hiding in their coats, so that you never run again. You cannot walk up to me today Son, and tell me that you are nervous. I have put 4 years with you. Each time you had to run at 4 in the morning, i woke up at 3 to wake you up ! Your headache was an excuse not to show up for practice, but my grave illness never detered my committment. When your wife threatened to leave you, my wife had already left me for my committment to you. I have put 4 years of my life in serving you, for this day of victory. It wasnt your journey alone, i walked the path with you. I deserve to win, with you. So get back to the start line and win this race. Because Son, Winning is not everything ! WINNING IS THE ONLY THING !!!"
The Runner B, went back to the start line.
Who won the race :O) ?
Wait for tomorrow to know !!!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi mam, obviously the student of Coach B wins and even i would like a Coach B. For Coach A's student, winning was a desire not a NECESSITY, whereas for Coach B's student it was a NECESSITY and not desire. For me being a SUCCESSFUL person is NECESSITY, and as truly said it is not everything, it is THE ONLY THING. Thank you so much for writing the blog which is a source for Inspiration for me :o)

Anuj :) said...

Hi mam,
I would like Coach A. Coach A had so much confidence in his student that he just instilled that confidence in the student. Coach B told his student how much he did for him and how winning the race was important for the coach. But he was just doing his job. He is a coach and he needs to give in his best. Winning is needed in life, but that is not the only thing. Winning gets you a "high" but losing sumtimes,will make u realise that u need to get "higher". I would definitely go with Coach A and be calm..chilled out..and enjoy the journey along with the destination...:)
Thanks for the super blog :)

Unknown said...

Hi, i am sure runner B will win as he has no other choice then to win or infact his coach will never allow him to lose. He is so fortunate to have a coach like him & it make sense to me also as he is putting so much time i e 4 years, which is a part of his life he is not going to get back. So no point trying he must run to WIN!!! Thank you so much priya this blogs are so inspiring & i can actually relate to it.Thanks again :-)

Nupur said...

well awesome article to start with.

Coach Bs student may or may not win. May win cause he realized that he is not alone in the race but he must win for the coach.
The other perspective is that, he may not win, caus ethe coach threatened and made the already nervous student more petrified.
Coach A,s student will win cause the coach only instilled confidence and faith in his student which replced the 1% fear that was existing.

I want a mixture of both coaches as both have their own strenghts and weaknesses. Very diplomatic...hehehe :).
I want coach B's style at the start of my journey to teach me how to use the gears and tell me that if i dont i will meet with an accident. But once i knwo how to use the gears, i want Coach A' style of teaching to keep that hand behind me for me to go over the edge.