RevSportz Trailblazers Conclave 2.0 had just ended on March 8, 2024 and each of us had started to celebrate. For five months, we had worked to get India’s best Olympic and Paralympic athletes under one roof to make for meaningful dialogue that could enrich the sports ecosystem. The ambition was to make a difference in an Olympic and Paralympic year. With 30 of our best athletes a part of the conclave for two days, Mission Impossible had just been accomplished. That was when Shriyanka Sadangi walked up to me to say goodbye. Shriyanka is one of our best shooters at the moment, and had earned a Paris 2024 quota for India in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.
“I was in two minds about the conclave to start with,” she told me. “I wasn’t sure if I should take a break from the camp for a day and come. More so after the camp was moved to Bhopal, and the connectivity with Kolkata not being great. Would it actually help? May I tell you that I am hugely pleased with the outcome. I learnt a lot from the sessions and also from the conversations backstage. I had a one-hour conversation with Abhinav [Bindra] and my takeaways from these conversations are immense. Please do this conclave year on year and get us all together.”
Shriyanka was not alone. Sample this from Anush Agarwalla, one of India’s leading equestrian riders. “To share the stage with so many legends was in itself an honour,” he said. “But then, to have them there for informal conversations all day made the conclave for me. I spoke to Mahesh Bhupathi, Joshna Chinappa, Mary Kom and others and asked questions that I normally don’t get to ask.”
Manasi Joshi, Paralympic badminton star, went a step ahead. “We keep hearing about equal treatment,” she said. “But then, you hear something and you see something entirely different. In this conclave, every second session had a Paralympic athlete share his or her experiences with able-bodied men and women. You had Neeraj Chopra and you also had Sumit Antil. That’s what stood out for all of us.”
RevSportz Trailblazers Conclave 2.0 was meant to create a disruption. It did. And now, in its third year, we will further take the process forward and discuss key issues of mental health and women’s health, while getting the legends to speak about handling pressure and how to be best prepared for a mega event. Also, the conclave is not simply about legends. Rather, it is also about the athletes who are on their way up and who will be stepping out for India soon. It is about giving them an opportunity to interact with stars who know how to handle pressure.
Finally, the conclave is also about stories. Sport has always lent itself to great storytelling, and each one of the athletes coming has a story. To hear Pullela Gopichand talk about his relationship with his daughter, Gayatri, or to listen to Nikhat Zareen speak of how her mother is now a convert to boxing – these are stories everyone will feel inspired by.
While the conclave is all about sport and sportspeople, it is also about fans. Fans enrich the ecosystem and, in doing so, make a real difference. We have kept the conclave registration free of charge, unlike all other such events, to make sure that the genuine fan isn’t left out based on economic considerations. Thera are now just 10 more days left for Tata Steel Trailblazers 3.0. In all honesty, we can’t wait.
