In India cricket isn’t just a sport it’s a religion. Every child grows up with a bat in hand, and every parent at some point has imagined their child hitting the winning runs for India. Then my son decided he wanted to be a footballer. You don’t expect to get schooled in how to think differently by a 7-year old, but that’s exactly what happened to us.
At first, it felt unusual. Football is popular in India but choosing it over cricket is still swimming against the current. My son though didn’t care about the usual or the expected path. He had found something that excited him, challenged him, and made him come alive. What surprised me wasn’t his choice. It was what happened to the rest of us. His passion slowly became ours.
We found ourselves learning about clubs we had barely heard of. Paris Saint-Germain wasn’t just a European football club anymore, it was where he trained through the PSG Academy in India. I was not a big follower of football outside of the the FIFA World Cup and the occasional English Premier League match. But my son changed that. Weekend conversations shifted from cricket scores to Champions League fixtures. We debated tactics, followed transfer windows, and discovered leagues across Europe that had never featured in our conversations before.
Then came a moment I will never forget.
He travelled to France to represent India at the PSG Academy Cup, competing alongside young footballers from PSG academies around the world. Watching him step onto that stage was surreal. It wasn’t just his dream unfolding, it was a reminder of how one person’s conviction can expand everyone else’s world.
Today, as the football world celebrates the FIFA World Cup 2026, it’s remarkable to see how a sport once considered secondary in a cricket-obsessed nation has captured the imagination of millions of Indians. The tournament has become one of the country’s biggest sporting events by viewership, proving that passion doesn’t always follow tradition. And recent championship victories in Europe by the juniors from Minerva club has only added fuel to fire.
We have been speaking about #REWIRE, the courage to step away from what is expected to pursue what feels right. I now realise that rewiring is not just for career transitions. It’s a much larger concept. Sometimes, one person’s willingness to think differently, and choose differently rewires an entire family. The same thing happens inside organisations.
Every meaningful innovation, every new way of working, every breakthrough begins with someone willing to ask, “What if we think differently? What if we don’t follow the usual playbook?” At first, they may seem out of step with the rest. But if we support them instead of expecting them to fall in line, their courage becomes contagious.
My son taught me football. More importantly, he taught me that transformation often begins with a single person who has the courage to ignore the script everyone else is following, and think differently.
Hi, I’m Ripudaman, a coach, trainer, and facilitator with experience in customer service and people development across hospitality, QSR, BPO, and retail industry. I help organizations build high-performing cultures through bespoke leadership and management development programs, customer service training, and executive coaching. I am passionate about developing leaders and teams who deliver outstanding results while creating memorable customer experiences. Connect with me on LinkedIn.