On the occasion of Teacher’s day, student at IIM Calcutta got the opportunity to learn some valuable lessons from sportsperson turned changemaker Viren Rasquinha. The former India Hockey captain narrated anecdotes from his life and career, the lessons he took away from each experience and how he, as part of the Organization Olympic Gold Quest, is now training potential Olympic medal winners in the pursuit of making India a sporting superpower too.
The talk had been organized by the club ‘Colloquia’ on campus. Rasquinha, with his excellence in the field of sports coupled with a management degree from ISB, seemed to be an apt choice of speaker, one who could establish a connection with the budding managers in the institute, and share the secrets of being a success in whichever field one pursues. He also spoke about the lack of proper facilities, training in Indian sporting contingents, which has led to the performances being below par at the international level. He went on to cite the examples of various sportspersons like Mary Kom, Gagan Narang, Saina Nehwal, etc. who have achieved great laurels inspite of the system, but have the potential to do exceedingly well with a little help.
Rasquinha talked about the good work the NGO Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), of which he is currently COO, is undertaking, in the direction of nurturing Olympic talent in India. He talked about the innovative fund raising campaign “Power your Champion” that they have taken up, where anybody can commit a sum of Rs. 100 a month to be donated to the training and other requirements of the athletes that are part of OGQ currently.
Rasquinha graduated from ISB in 2009 and turned down a lucrative offer from an Investment bank to take up the cause of upliftment of sports in India. “Before going to ISB, I used to wonder why sporting bodies are not able to take proper care of particular sports teams. Having seen the manager’s perspective on it now, I understand the numerous problems and constraints he faces”, said Viren.
Visiting faculty at IIMC and Founder, PipalMajik, Mr. Chandradeep Mitra thanked Viren with a token of appreciation for coming to campus and sharing such valuable lessons with the students.
The talk had been organized by the club ‘Colloquia’ on campus. Rasquinha, with his excellence in the field of sports coupled with a management degree from ISB, seemed to be an apt choice of speaker, one who could establish a connection with the budding managers in the institute, and share the secrets of being a success in whichever field one pursues. He also spoke about the lack of proper facilities, training in Indian sporting contingents, which has led to the performances being below par at the international level. He went on to cite the examples of various sportspersons like Mary Kom, Gagan Narang, Saina Nehwal, etc. who have achieved great laurels inspite of the system, but have the potential to do exceedingly well with a little help.
Rasquinha talked about the good work the NGO Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), of which he is currently COO, is undertaking, in the direction of nurturing Olympic talent in India. He talked about the innovative fund raising campaign “Power your Champion” that they have taken up, where anybody can commit a sum of Rs. 100 a month to be donated to the training and other requirements of the athletes that are part of OGQ currently.
Rasquinha graduated from ISB in 2009 and turned down a lucrative offer from an Investment bank to take up the cause of upliftment of sports in India. “Before going to ISB, I used to wonder why sporting bodies are not able to take proper care of particular sports teams. Having seen the manager’s perspective on it now, I understand the numerous problems and constraints he faces”, said Viren.
Visiting faculty at IIMC and Founder, PipalMajik, Mr. Chandradeep Mitra thanked Viren with a token of appreciation for coming to campus and sharing such valuable lessons with the students.