Edition 206 - What if you could help a potential Olympian or national marathon record holder?
One major joy of what I do for a living is the kind of stories I hear and the people I get to meet/connect with. Earlier this year, one of my former trainees, N, messaged me about someone (let’s call him athlete A) who had run under 30 min for a 10K, 2:20 for a full marathon and 1:07 for a half marathon. Among various surprises about A was that he didn’t have a coach. N had spoken to A and discovered a few things A needed help with.
N also told me A was poor and had various difficulties in his life. N spoke to me to check if I would be interested in working with A. This was like a jeweller being given a diamond and being asked if he wanted to work with it. I said yes. I also told N about my experience of working with someone from a poor background and the kind of compulsions that usually undermine their journey. Usually such compulsions are economic and have little to do with their talent or hard work.
In any case, nothing happened for 3+ months until another friend M and former trainee pinged me last week and asked me about A. I told M to connect me and that I would speak to A. M did that and I spoke to A 2 days ago.
As mentioned earlier, A has a ton of hurdles to overcome in his life. I won’t go in to his personal life but I will discuss the part I think I can help with. A needs financial support to get
at least 2 pairs of shoes - one for racing, one for training
travel to races, stay in towns like Bangalore (where he has friends/well wishers who can support him)
proper food. He doesn’t eat well most days and doesn’t have enough to get adequate daily protein. Let’s say he needs at least 1 kg of protein/month for the next 6 months
at least 2 massages a month to recover from his training of >=100 miles per week
A’s current goals are
Run 2:16-2:18 for the marathon which gets him attention from sponsors for serious athletes (he knows that Insta savvy amateurs get shoe & apparel sponsors) for at least 1-2 years
He was in shape and confident of doing this last yr but his father needed an operation for cancer and that disrupted his schedule in addition to inadequate nutrition and worn out shoes
Run sub 2:20 which may get him in to the army, which will then take care of multiple things in his life incl. support for his development as an athlete
Until he hits one of the above 2 goals, he will need about INR 200,000 (my guess) for the next 9-12 months. This post is the start of my quest to help him raise that kind of money which should give him substantial relief and let him focus on just running. Of course, I hope to be his coach in his quest.
Please reply to this post or send me an email if you are interested and how much you would like to contribute and if you want more detail. I have deliberately not revealed his identity mostly to protect his privacy. He didn’t ask for anything but said he’d appreciate some help. Since I spent an hour talking to him, I have figured out that this is the minimum he will need. It is possible he may get discovered as a talent at some point in the next 12 months and not need further support from us, but I am not counting on it.
All I want is the satisfaction of having been able to make a difference in the life of a gifted and modest human.