Live India, Love Football

I’m literally and figuratively “on top of the world” right now.   I’m currently flying from Delhi to my new home in Pune feeling so happy to be alive.   My wife and I spent the past few weeks in New York and Los Angeles visiting family and friends as a newly and happily married couple. I must say that this was by far the most fun and memorable of all of the annual trips I’ve taken back to the US since moving to India in 2009 (the number is up to 7 now). It was extraordinary to have the opportunity to take Avantika through my wonderful life in the US and show off my beautiful wife to my family and friends.   Sticking to the sports theme of the blog, it was also extraordinary to have the opportunity to show off a bit of my past professional life to Avantika.   Thanks to my friends and former colleagues at Major League Soccer, we got fantastic tickets to watch two exciting MLS matches in two incredibly unique environments.   The first match was New York Ci...

I was in Bhutan last month on holiday with my wife and in-laws. Before the trip, the only two things I knew about this small country was that it was voted "Happiest Country in the World" in an index ranking the Gross National Happiness and that not too long ago it was ranked lowest in the world (209th out of 209 member countries) in the FIFA rankings.  As we landed in the beautiful Paro Valley, I started getting excited in the anticipation of being around happy people and experiencing majestic landscape. What I wasn't anticipating was discussing or seeing anything connected to football which is typically one of the ways I like to explore a new country. So you can imagine my surprise when our eccentric tour guide Yashi took us to the national football stadium to watch a local match on the second day of trip.  The stadium was beautifully situated right in the heart of Bhutan's capital city Thimpu and I was blown away by the quality of the pitch and passion in th...

DSK Shivajians FC President, Shirish Kulkarni and I had the opportunity to travel to Liverpool in early May to watch Liverpool FC dominate Villarreal to win the Europa semi-final at Anfield and then travel back to Europe last week to watch Sevilla beat Liverpool FC in the Europa Cup final at St. Jackob’s Park in Basel, Switzerland. While we were in Liverpool, in addition to the match, we had the opportunity to visit the LFC Academy in Kirkby and learn about how the Academy coaches approach sports science and establishing a player pathway.   We also watched the first team train at Melwood and interacted with a few of the players as well.   The whole intention of these tours and interactions was to begin exploring ways in which we can bring and integrate the LFC blueprint into our project in Pune.   Fortunately our LIFA-DSK Academy Director, Dave Rogers, was also able to join us on the trip.   While in Basel, we attended a Soc...

Some major professional life changes have taken place over the past month.   Thankfully everything has been positive, however I’ve learned that any major change in one’s life (no matter how welcome) can take some time to get used to.   Thankfully these changes took place a few weeks ago so I’m settling into my new life and role however it’s never too late to share them with the few, but loyal readers of this blog. Change #1 – I Resigned from Libero Sports My last day with Libero Sports was 30 April, 2016.   After 5+ years serving as a Director of India’s leading football consultancy, I decided to move on as I was offered an opportunity that I just couldn’t turn down (explained in the next section).   Although I didn’t show it publicly, I was quite emotional during my last few weeks with Libero as this organisation has not only served as the professional platform to fully immerse myself into the Indian football industry, it has also served as my family, my hom...

This is a line (sans what’s in the parenthesis) taken from the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.” In the movie, an actor played by Kevin Costner builds a baseball field in the middle of Iowa and crowds of people magically show up to the ground including his dead Father. Since then so many sports organizations have made the mistake of believing that just by establishing an Academy or building a stadium, the fans will show up.   This only works if you are building another La Masia or if a live U2 concert is the first act in your new stadium.   The reality is that the public no longer just jumps at something unless there is some certainty that it would be worth their while which makes it extremely important for sports organizations to remain open about reaching out to the masses - by traveling to their backyards.      In early 2014, just a few months after our client, DSK Group, launched the Liverpool International Football Academy, we had to a make a call whether...

The past 2 months have been extraordinary! I married the girl of my dreams and then went on an incredible island-hopping trip through the Philippines. Honestly, I had no idea what my life would be like when I moved to this country many years ago. I was sure that I would be involved in football and hopefully make some friends along the way.   But not even in my wildest dreams – and I am a chronic wild dreamer – could I have imagined meeting my soul-mate, falling in love with her, her actually falling in love with me and us getting married in Delhi in front of 500 of our closest family and friends.   All the clichés, advice and statements I’ve heard for so many years are true. Sayings like, “when you meet the right person, you just know," and “Punjabi Indian weddings are the most fun weddings in the world" and “make sure you stop a few times during your wedding, look up and enjoy seeing all of your friends and family together in celebration of love.” Although I've...