Hashtag. RealLeadersCare

An instance from last week reminded that we look to the field for more than adrenaline rush. Small acts of kindness, the hard knocks of resolve, resilience and sterling leadership, carry way beyond the playing field. What else can explain the overwhelming applause for India stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane’s keep-it-up-and-going tap to Ravindra Jadeja after being run out himself? Around the time when protesting farmers’ death toll crossed 50, reams were written about “(Indian cricket) team spirit” and Rahane’s “leadership”. His mix-up in Adelaide from a few days ago when he had got his captain, Virat Kohli, run out, and for which he had apologised, was all forgotten and forgiven.

Compassion and Camaraderie

Likewise, there was much ado when Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina injured herself and retired from the Italian Open in Rome last year and her opponent, Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka, rushed with the ice pack and towel. After a chat, hug and kiss on Kasatkina’s forehead as Azarenka turned to go her way, Kasatkina held out a grateful lingering hand. The commentator remarked on the “genuine camaraderie that exists between tennis players” and the Women’s Tennis Association tweeted a visual of the two players with two hearts accompanying two words --- “compassion and camaraderie”.

Game. Set. Match

Last September, Japan’s Naomi Osaka beat Azarenka to win the US Open. Post match, before the awards ceremony, there was the usual acceptance speech and Q&A round. After Osaka had thanked Azarenka for a “tough game”, she was asked --- “You said from the beginning you had seven matches, seven masks, seven names. What was the message...” Osaka’s masks had names of seven black victims of racial violence. The 23-year-old grand-slammed --- “Well, what was the message you got?” Which reminds of another Osaka story. In 2018 she had won her first US Open beating no less than Serena Williams. But the match itself had been fraught with tension. Williams had lost her temper once too often --- she smashed her racket and called the chair umpire a thief --- and had to forfeit a game and was even fined. Osaka had to face a lot of booing from Williams's fans. That day, the young player had tears "rivering" down her cheeks right through the awards ceremony. Way later, Williams recounted that she had written to Osaka to apologise for marring her big moment and the young sportsperson had apparently replied: “People can misunderstand anger for strength because they can't differentiate between the two... No one has stood up for themselves the way you have and you need to continue trailblazing.”
Lessons from the field matter.