Changing young lives one second at a time.

Two years ago I stumbled across an athletics club in Karachi that had it right. A collaboration between a mother and a coach, it focused on introducing young children and adults to athletics. Rather than winning it emphasized understanding personal limits and pushing beyond them every day. 

Sindh Track and Field club changed the lives of my children. All three of them. For Amin and Salwa it opened up a new healthier world, free from peer pressure, consoles and screen times. A world where they learnt to handle pre-competition goose bumps and butterflies, balance exams, performance and training. They learnt that if you consistently drop a fraction of a second every month, two years later you get to be in a class of your own. They also learnt that the price for that fraction of a second was an incredible amount of pain and discomfort, days of agony, aches and cramps. Hurt that no amount of tears, bath soak, analgesic or pain killers in the world could fix.

And it changed me. It gave me the opportunity to spend more time with what really matters - family. Transformed me from a boring actuary and risk consultant into a father. A father who moon lighted as a sports photographer and film maker at every meet so that he could see his children run again and again.

Two years ago I decided that I would do whatever it takes to take this message out to other children in my city. That decision evolved into a commitment to raise funds, shoot pictures and edit documentaries. Also arm twisting friends and family into carrying years worth of shoes, starting blocks, epsom salts, stop watches, chia seeds, VO2max trackers, and equally exotic products from all across the world. Just so that the kids at the club could run a fraction of a second faster that month.

I thought I would end up doing this alone but I didn't. All it took was Facebook posts, Linkedin shares and Whatsapp messages. Random strangers showing up on my door with 4 pairs of response boost shoes. Friends writing checks and wire transfers, artists and designers contributing posters and brochures, parents and students volunteering time.

Together we have done many interesting things. Coordinating athletic events and competitions has been the most fun because the only way you learn to push limits is to go head to head with others willing to push harder than you. That is where all the training meets the tartan track. Remember winning isn't everything. Beating the clock is. As long as you are fraction of a second faster this time, you are already a winner. You don't need a medal to prove it.

Our next event is on the 1st of October, in Karachi. Consider this a call for help.

You can volunteer time. Help spread the word to the fastest kids in your neighborhood or family. Coordinate press and media coverage. Write copy fo our press release. Refer sponsors. Lug some shoes and epsom salts to my doorstep.

That is if you are in Karachi; if you are not, help young children discover athletics for the first time, wherever you are. It will change them and it will change you.