When Pullela Gopichand speaks about mental health, you better listen.
Gopichand, the national badminton coach, has a mundane job. Yet, he makes it look non-mundane. When coach Gopichand stepped out of the BAI Lounge to have a chat with us, we had set our mind on picking his brain on mental health and how he takes on the pressure as the national badminton coach in an Olympic year. Little did we know that we would find no hints or traces of any sort of pressure or stress, no matter how deep we tried to dig. After all, he did say “I’ve been doing this for a long time now”.
Stern but supportive. How does Gopichand keep things cool?
The image of Gopichand on the sidelines is etched in the mind of every sports fan — stern but supportive, stoic but celebrant. Looking from the outside, one couldn’t help but wonder what thoughts went about in his head. But when asked about how he makes sure his players are in the right mind frame, he said: “Being realistic is an important starting point. Sport is cruel, sport will get you more failure than success. I will break down everything for a player and have that conversation with them. No point in being vague about things.”
The former All England champion adds: “It’s important to remind the players who tend to get carried away that sport means you need to relax because being under too much pressure and stress keeps you defensive and safe, which is not a good way to be playing.”
Gopi believes that it’s important to make sure that his players are realistic about their goals and setting expectations in accordance with their abilities. At the same time, he thinks, it’s okay to lose.
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“You have to keep improving at the world stage. If you have a weakness, the world is going to exploit it. Go out there and keep working on your mistakes,” he added. “There’s no point in being vague about things”. Find your weaknesses and work on them.
When you listen to Gopi, you realise that it’s not just badminton where his wisdom applies. If you, the reader, are working in the corporate world, if you’re an athlete, if you’re a homemaker, whatever you do, there are lessons from this for each one of you.
“You wanting it isn’t enough, you have to deserve it too. It’s okay if you lose. As long as you’re walking on the right path, you will eventually find success. If you’ve lost, it’s because of a reason. Get to the point and work on it. Don’t get too emotional because that will only complicate the process. Are you on the right path? Are you correcting yourself? Are you taking this as a learning experience? These are the questions that need to be asked,” Gopichand says.
Paris Olympics: Pressure? No Pressure?
As soon as we asked Gopi about whether he’s feeling the pressure of the Paris Olympics, he was quick to say that he tries to look at everything from a broader perspective.
“It’s important that the sport does well. A medal would be important for the sport. It’s important for the players and the next generation of players. But Paris Olympics is not the end of it all.”
Our conclusion
It’s uncommon to hear a national coach say that the ‘Olympics is not the end of it all’. Perhaps, a lot of athletes needed to hear this as well. At the end of the day, if you’re on the right path, that’s all that matters.
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