The Pleasure and Pain Of Growing Up With Sporting Dads

Having a father who heavily invests in your sports career can have a long-lasting impact on your life

- Ravi Raj

Growing up with a father who takes his child's sporting career as his own often leaves an indelible impact on the child's life. The dedication and discipline that sports instill make it easier to swim through the trenches of adulthood. Stories of great sporting heroes are replete with their unwavering commitment, aided by an authoritative father figure devising every step for their success.

For the tennis legend Rafael Nadal, his uncle and coach Antonio 'Toni' Nadal assumed the authority of a father figure, making him sweat on the dusty courts of Mallorca, shouting expletives for every mistake, and sometimes even making him sweep the courts. By seven, Rafa would train five times a week. Uncle Toni, the father figure in Nadal's life, would play him on the uneven courts with worn-out tennis balls in extremely windy conditions to hone his all-round game and make him fluent across conditions. Nadal has always maintained his tennis career wouldn't have bloomed without uncle Toni's presence.

To be a witness to sporting greatness is always a cathartic experience. Most of these players had a disciplinarian father, who not only set up lofty expectations but also provided the necessary structure for the fulfilment of such expectations. The sporting world owes a lot to sportoholic dads, but it should also be mentioned that for every Nadal who achieves the apex, thousands of others fall out of the race midway.