The description of a regular Sunday morning for any normal person living in a metropolitan city would involve lying around, shopping for groceries or sitting on the couch watching television. However, popular sporting goods retailer and manufacturer Decathlon decided to go for an alternative idea, and a healthy one at that, when it organised the “Warm Up” workshop at their Sohna Road store in Gurgaon on October 23rd.
Sport-loving and health-conscious citizens of Gurgaon turned up for this interesting workshop, which was inspiring, information and infectious, to say the least. The main idea behind the activity was to educate people about how they can inculcate sport for health benefits, boosting self-confidence and getting in touch with their inner self.
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The part that made the workshop really interesting was Decathlon’s decision to invite two people who lead normal lives, i.e. having a regular job and family, but are experts in two different sports – hiking and running.
Chetan Sehgal, a real estate professional and dedicated hiker, spoke to workshop participants about how hiking is an activity that gives him solace, inner peace and a sense of spending time with himself.
After a brief introduction about his personal life and career, Sehgal described why it was necessary to spend alone time. “We are all leading busy lives and have day-to-day commitments, which bog us down tremendously. While we do a lot for our careers, family, spouse and friends, what do we do for ourselves?” he asked a sizeable group of participants sitting and listening patiently.
“Hiking is the ‘me time’ that helps me strike a balance in life and break the monotony of my daily routine. It might seem to all of you that being a hiker is something really tough and requires expertise. However, information on the Internet and presence of an entity like Decathlon, which makes all equipment readily available, the only thing that you need is will power,” he added.
Following his introduction and a thoroughly engaging talk, Sehgal explained various aspects related to hiking, right from equipment, handling your body, to strict rules that need to be adhered.
The use of personal experiences made the workshop highly relatable for participants, who threw a lot of questions at Sehgal and got pretty prompt replies. Speaking to Sportskeeda, Rahul, one of the participants, said, “This is an excellent workshop and I have got to know so much about hiking. Everything is available on the Internet but hearing things on a personal level is inspiring and makes me want to go hiking tomorrow. I come quite often to Decathlon and it is really worth my time.”
Captain Dharamveer, a corporate professional and running enthusiast, connected with participants instantly because of his candour and excellent oratory skills. Talking about his personal life, Captain Dharamveer described how he transformed himself from being a chain smoker to someone who has run numerous half-marathons. “I am pretty much a normal person like you and used to be really bogged down by stress in life. I grew up, did my studies, joined the army, retired and then started working in the corporate world. After a while, I was so busy running the race of life that I was not doing anything for myself. One day, I told myself that running in this race is fine but I need to run for myself and no one else,” he explained.
Participants present at the workshop could relate themselves to Captain Dharamveer and interacted with him following his talk on running and its essentials. He spoke about how running helps in bringing the body back in shape and restoring lost self-confidence. In fact, some participants narrated a few of their personal stories and memories related to sports equipment, including cricket bat, badminton racquet and cycling gloves.
A thoroughly engaging workshop, Decathlon Warm Up communicated the essential message of how sport, even if played at a non-competitive level, can help people change their lives. The importance of playing a sport - be it something as simple as running or as complex as hiking, is increasing on a daily basis, including and especially for those living in cities and doing desk jobs.
Workshops like Decathlon Warm Up certainly help inspire people and compel them out of their comfort zones for much-needed self-betterment.
