Odia girl’s brush with sports icons
BHUBANESWAR: The Covid pandemic and the consequent lockdown have left youngsters with a lot of time to kill. But for Raisah Panda, a Class 12 student of Delhi, even the 24 hours of the day are proving to be inadequate.
Raisah, a native of Odisha, has used this time to interview eminent sports icons from her home in Delhi. She shares these interviews on YouTube, where they have received thousands of likes. Her YouTube channel – ‘Sportified Minds’ – has around 400 subscribers.
A sportsperson herself, especially proficient in basketball and football, Raisah hit upon the idea of understanding the ‘sporting mind’ to inspire others and teach people lessons in determination, grit and patience – all exceedingly valuable in these times. Among those she has interviewed are Leander Paes (tennis star), Kynan Chenai (trap shooter), Kanchanmala Pandey (para swimmer), Atul Wassan (cricketer-turned-commentator) and Lilima Minz (hockey player). The Paes interview has been especially well-received, generating 7,000 views. Raisah said she had also interviewed Dipa Karmakar, Vijendra Singh and Vishwanathan Anand, and these would be uploaded soon.
“Normally, I would have done an internship during summer. Since this year I had a lot of time, I decided to do my own interview series. I am interested in sports psychology. I feel that sports can help shape young minds and interviewing sporting icons from a young adult’s perspective can inspire us to pursue our passion,” she told TOI .
Asked how she managed to connect with the stars, Raisah said, “I got the support of my family and friends in collecting e-mails and phone numbers of the icons. I let them know the concept of the series. After they consented, I interacted with them on Zoom,” she added. Raisah said she found it hard to deal with the lockdown initially, but soon acclimatised to the new normal and started enjoying the opportunities it gave her to try new things. “This was a unique learning experience for me as I got to delve deep into the sporting mind. I know that only tremendous dedication and hours of hard work can make a champion,” she added.
In 2018, Raisah had founded ‘Strive’, a community-based programme for slum children, run in collaboration with Slum Soccer. The programme at present supports 70 children of Ambedkar Basti in Delhi’s R K Puram area.