Will of Steel

When I first saw the nominees by the JSW, the first two names that striked my mind were Bhakti Sharma and Rufus D'souza. Ironically, in terms of age they stand in the two extreme corners of this competition. Bhakti, being just 25 and Rufus being 85 years of age. But what I noticed, the common thing between them, was their passion for what they love. One woman, trying hard to push the boundaries of herself. And one man who gave up every mortal thing in his life for a game. They both have this immense power of inspiration to give away. And the young generation will always be at their debt for doing something so incredible that many of us can only dream of. 

Bhakti Sharma

She hails from the deserted land of Rajasthan, yet she have successfully won the water, literally. At the of 25, Bhakti, on january 10th, 2015  became the youngest in the world and first Asian girl to swim in freezing water of Antartica for 2.25 km, beating the record of British open water swimming champion Lewis Pugh and American swimmer Lynne Cox. Sharma swam for 52 minutes, covering 2.25 km distance in the freezing waters of Antartica while the temperature was one degree. 

Bhakti Sharma has swum in all the five oceans of the world, besides swimming in or across eight other seas and channels. She was awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2010.

Sharma started swimming when she was just 2.5 years old. After having participated in many State and District Level competitions, her first open water (Sea) swim was a 16 km swim from Uran port to Gateway of India in 2003. Sharma was 14 years old that time.

Sharma is only the third person in the world to have swum across the Arctic Ocean, and recently swam in the Antarctic Ocean to become the youngest to swim in all five oceans, a feat which earned her recognition from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sharma's swimming career in just a little over 10 years is commendable and some major milestones include :

2006: Crossed the English Channel in 13 hours 55 minutes on 6 July at the age of 16 from Shakespeare Beach, Dover England to Calais, France. 

2006: Winning the Lake Zurich Swim.

Image src : http://images.mid-day.com/images/2015/jan/16Bhakti-Sharma-1.jpg

RUFUS D'SOUZA

Rufus D’Souza (Santos Club, Cochin) is 85 years old and has been coaching for the last 44 years. Like most people, his love affair with sports began in childhood. However, unlike most people, he was lucky enough to turn his childhood dream into reality. In 1954 he captained the Travancore Hockey team and from 1960 to 1968 he represented Kerala in both football and hockey. The joy he felt playing sports motivated him to get into coaching once his own playing days were over. He chose to be a youth coach.

At the youth level, a coach’s role is critical as players rely on them for structure, inspiration and guidance. These youth coaches wear many hats, and teaching the sport is just one of them. Rufus too believes that his role extends beyond the Football field. He tells me that a good youth coach must inculcate the 4 Ds in children “desire to excellence, dedication to work hard, help them chart out a direction for their life and teach them discipline.” The sports field helps develop both an athlete and an individual. Lessons learned here are carried throughout life.

His distinction is in having played hockey and football with equal felicity for the State. Today, Rufus is known for his playing skills and also as a coach who has produced stars for the country. He is present daily on the Parade Ground, Fort Kochi, every morning training kids of different ages. No wonder he is popularly known as ‘Football Uncle’. Rufus is looking forward to the football extravaganza and places his odds on Uruguay this time. The game has been my life, declares Rufus.

Img Src : http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01934/06KIMPRUFUS_D__SOU_1934855f.jpg

"I'm voting for Bhakti Sharma and Rufus D'souza 's #WillOfSteel and blogging on BlogAdda to help him/her get felicitated and eventually enabled by JSW"

And I ask my readers to vote for them too.