Live India, Love Football

I spent the whole of last week in Bangkok, a place that I’ve always desired to explore yet surprisingly have never been to.   My opportunity finally came during a conversation with one of the partners of Libero Sports in Santa Monica, California a few weeks back. It became clear that it makes sense to begin pitching our consulting services to some of the Thai Premier League clubs our Libero Sports Japan colleagues have been supplying players to over the years.     Next thing I know is that   two weeks later I’m on a Thai airways red-eye flight heading directly to Bangkok.    With Libero Sports colleagues and some of the Japanese players we represent currently playing in the Thai Premier League The entire week was full of excitement.   My colleagues in our Japan office have built strong relationships with a number of key influencers within the Thai Football industry which opened up the doors to a series high profile meetings with Thai Pre...

Anyone who has been to Bangalore with me knows how much I love the Garden City. My first trip to Bangalore (now Bengaluru) was back in 2008 when a friend of a friend offered me first class hospitality.   It was during that trip when I experienced the thrill of riding through Indian streets on the back of a motorcycle, the delight of eating simple but delicious dhaba food and the fear of getting my first straight blade razor shave.   However, more than the experiences above, what I liked most about Bangalore was the simplicity of the people, the relaxed manner in which people went about life, not too rushed, not too showy, not too cut-throat dis-similar to what I experience in the north on a daily basis.   Oh, and I also liked the California-type weather, the plush greenery and the beautiful girls. Since that maiden trip, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Bangalore multiple times a year for meetings, events and weddings, and each trip seems to be more enj...

The other day I was fortunate to be in Bangalore to host a group at the India v Pakistan friendly football match.  I was excited since it was the first time these two countries have competed in football since 2005 and Bangalore Football Stadium is one of the best venues to watch a live match. The atmosphere around and inside of the stadium was certainly electric, especially for a Wednesday 3:30pm kick off.  Packed house, passionate supporters and the always appreciated Bengaluru FC fans singing songs throughout the match.  That's pretty much where the highlights stop. I guess you can't expect much from a team ranked 150th in FIFA rankings (India) playing against a team ranked 164th (Pakistan), however given the amount of money which AIFF has put into India's training camp, I did expect some basic ball movement and given India's long standing hatred for Pakistan, I did expect some fight. I saw neither on that Wednesday afternoon. It was 90 minutes of long balls, p...

Last week I was scheduled to fly down to Bangalore to be part of the leadership team for a ONE GOAL workshop on nutrition and football.  The workshop started on Tuesday and since Monday was a holiday here in India, I decided to fly down one day early because for some reason or another I felt spiritually compelled to visit Sri Sathya Sai Baba's ashram located a couple hours drive from Bangalore in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh. I won't go into all the details of my experience, however I will say that I found the clarity I was looking for while meditating in the presence of this great Saint. This was needed as at that point my mind, body and spirit were all a bit off track due to the always so difficult transition from the US back to India. Anyway, the pleasant surprise for me was walking into the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Sports Complex and seeing proudly hanging on the wall a football jersey signed BY Pele TO Sri Sathya Sai Baba.  Not many would get the significance of this, but I...

I’m currently sitting on an Etihad Airlines flight heading from Los Angeles to Abu Dhabi and eventually back home to Delhi.  My five week trip which ended up spreading across seven cities has finally come to a close.  Although it was difficult saying good-bye to my extremely loving family, I must admit that I’m ready to get back to India.  On a personal level, I’m actually missing the simple routine I’ve been able to carve out within the chaos of Delhi life.  And on a professional level, I’m clear that the best way for me to now actually make a difference in India is to actually be in India.  Over the past few weeks, I’ve met with about fifty organizations all working in various areas of the US sports industry and was a guest at the most successful MLS All-Star Game in the league’s 18 year history.   Every day was a new set of conversations, ideas, insights, stories, experiences, etc… and now I can’t wait to start integrating all of what I’ve gathered...