Global Institute of Sports Business – A Dream Manifested Through Original Action

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It’s February 2017 and I am trying to decide whether or not I should travel from Pune to Mumbai to attend The Football Movement Conference organized by India On Track.  As I had attended the previous two editions and was impressed with the profile of speakers and quality of content, I made the last second decision to attend the second day of the event. Upon arriving, I run into a sea of friends and spend the rest of the afternoon catching up on football industry news and gossip.  By evening, networking drinks are flowing on the St. Regis Hotel terrace patio and eventually a group of us choose to head out to enjoy some of Mumbai’s nightlife. As I’m leaving the hotel, I see FC Pune City CEO and India On Track Chairman, Gaurav Model, waiting for his car. Gaurav was someone who I had met a few times before and I had always appreciated the fact that he was intelligent and enterprising. At that moment my gut was pushing me to walk over to him to discuss an idea while my head was driving me to leave it for another day and continue on to the pub with my friends from the Premier League. As always, my gut won this battle and the next thing I know I’m walking over to Gaurav and sparking up a conversation around sports management education. At the time I had no idea how much that decision would impact my life.

Fast forward to February 2019, Gaurav and I are sitting in the boardroom of the vibrant Global Institute of Sports Business campus discussing the next big education project.  Down the hall, 20 students are comparing BCCI’s financial documents with those of the Mumbai Indians as a part of their Sports Finance & Accounting course, one young woman who just quit her architecture job to follow her heart into a career in sports management sits outside of the boardroom waiting to be interviewed for GISB’s next batch and in the workstations our GISB staff are on a conference call with representatives from Premier League organizing the  Institute’s upcoming international study trip to the United Kingdom.  We take a moment to reflect on the past 2 years and how thanks to our aligned visions, strategic investment and a tremendous amount of passion & purpose driven hard work, we were able to establish India’s first industry designed and internationally certified Sports Management Institute. 

It has been an extraordinary journey thus far, taking that seed planted at the front entrance of the St. Regis Hotel and watching it blossom into a beautiful tree of knowledge, growth and possibility. I always knew that I wanted to create a platform that would help individuals transform their passion for sport into their profession however it was not clear to me how and when this would happen. Thanks to the Universe, Law of Attraction and Power of Manifestation, Gaurav Modwel, Vivek Sethia and India On Track entered my life and empowered me with the opportunity to fulfill my dream of building a truly holistic educational experience, one that involves intensive self-development work, rigorous academic study and regular industry connect. 

The past 2 years have included a bit of everything.  Moments of possibility and excitement, days of fear and self-doubt and months of wondering how we would be able to achieve our vision of creating Asia’s top sports management program. As with building anything worthwhile in life, one must always dream big while taking daily baby steps in order to make the impossible seem possible.  None of this would have happened without Gaurav Modwel’s endless energy, spirit and trust as without him the concept of the Global Institute of Sports Business would just remain as “a good idea that someone must do.” Thankfully, both Gaurav and I believe in the same thing which is that, “there is no such thing as original thought, only original action.” The establishment of the Global Institute of Sports Business is a reflection of what’s possible through original action.