Instamojo co-founder Sampad Swain takes to football to unwind from work stress.
Bengaluru :
Numerous meetings with investors, clients and his own team members is how Sampad Swain, CEO and co-founder of Instamojo, a Bengaluru-based fintech company, spends his weekdays, along with heated discussions with his in-house software developers and product engineers. Though he enjoys his role as an entrepreneur, his regular football practice keeps him going in a busy work life. “I work for around 10 hours during the week. My job as a start-up entrepreneur is thrilling and satisfying. But we also need to invest some time for other interests. For me, it’s my love for sports. I love to play football during my free time and also coach children in the weekends. It keeps me active and feels refreshing to take a break from work,” says Swain.
The 37-year-old father of eight-year old twin boys, finds coaching children as interesting as playing football. Today, coaching has evolved from a hobby to serious responsibility for Swain. “Coaching started off as an offshoot hobby. One evening, I had taken my kids out for football practice, and when I saw them playing with their friends, it struck me that I had not played in a really long time. I joined the little champs and started playing along. I also taught them little tricks along the way. That’s how I picked on this hobby. Since then, I go to the ground as often as possible during weekends, coach and play with them. It has been almost a year since I started pursuing this as a weekend getaway hobby,” he says. The sessions are held mainly on Saturday evenings or Sunday mornings at a playground in Koramangala. The tech geek also justifies his reason for coaching just kids. “It is fulfilling to coach enthusiastic children, there is so much to learn from their energy and ideas.”
Being a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo, he flew down to Russia in June 2018 to watch the FIFA World Cup. “Ronaldo is my all-time favourite soccer player, simply due to his positive attitude and strong work ethics. In a field like sports, talent may have probably 30-40 per cent role to have a successful career, but the rest is determined by one’s work ethics and attitude. We have a lot to learn from him. This helps me at work too,” he says. Though he is a football fanatic, Swain has not taken this sport as a competition. “Football has always been my first love. Back in the day, I spent a lot of time playing football with my society friends, and this was mostly on the road or a nearby playground. I picked up the sport on my own and built on my skills by observing the senior boys in the school football team,” he says, adding that he has never pursued football as a competitive game. “That’s one lesson I’ve learnt in life – you need not pursue everything with a competitive spirit. Sometimes, it is completely okay to pursue something simply because you enjoy it,” he says.
The entrepreneur also has a message for those who give up their hobby or passion because of their busy work schedule. “Pursuing a hobby is as important as performing well at your job. Some of us really love our jobs, but we need something to break away from our regular routine, and a hobby can help with this. It not only helps as a stressbuster, but gives us something more to look forward to in life.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Lesly Joseph / Express News Service / July 30th, 2019