It’s not the end, it’s the new beginning : Convocation 2017

Goodbyes no matter how hard, are a part of life. It was that time of the year when we at International Institute of Sports Management (IISM) had to bid adieu to our PGPSM batch students.

It was time to let the efforts of the past one year bear it fruits. IISM Convocation 2017 ceremony was recently concluded on 6th July 2017 at MCA, BKC, Mumbai.

Being graced by honourable dignitaries Nilesh Kulkarni (Founder and Director at IISM) , Irfan Pathan (Indian Cricketing Sensation), Sanjay Deshmukh (Hon’ble Vice Chancellor,University of Mumbai) , Abhijit Dabhade (COO at IISM) , Dr.Anil Karnik (Director of GICED) the ceremony was inaugurated by lighting the lamp, followed by a small prayer.

Our COO, Mr.Abhijit Dabhade was the first amongst the dignitaries to have come forward and expressed his wishes to our students. He affirms, “IISM shall keep supporting you all in all your future endeavours.” He then congratulated the students on coming out with flying colours and asked them to always maintain the right work life balance.

Our Founder & Director, Mr.Nilesh Kulkarni followed the suit and shared his experience of building IISM over the past 7 years and how it’s the parents support that has helped in realising the dreams of numerous Sports Enthusiasts, he quips, “Parents, taking that one step that you’ve taken for the ambition of your child and encouraging them towards making their careers into Sports Management has been extremely important” He also had a special message for all the students, ” When we played cricket, it gave us an important lesson to never give up in life no matter what the situation is. I stand in front You because my parents encouraged me to pursue my passion and I see similar motivation from your parents. There are no shortcuts, there’s no substitute for hardwork and there’s no compromises made for achieving your goals.India and the globe is waiting for Sports Managers like you to shine on.”

It was a pleasure to have Dr.Anil Karnik extend his unbiased support and blessings .

Our guest of honour for the evening, Mr.Irfan Pathan, a popular cricketing star shared with the students a deeper insight on Sports Management as a career. Owing his success to the smooth management skills of his manager, he shares it’s his management that lets him focus on his game, he says, “Sports managers are important to have a harmony between all the parameters of a game- be it security, venue management or even refreshments. I see a lot of managers on field that helps us focus on our games without worrying about everything else. When I started off, I knew nothing except my game and it’s my manager who held me through all of this. India needs more of you guys to come forward and manage Sports persons and contribute towards our industry. I hope you all would be successful in making a difference in lives of athletes like me.”

It was an honour to have Prof.Sanjay Deshmukh share a beautiful analogy between honeybees and humans. With an extremely inspiring story, he explained, “Honeybees know that the honey they’ve been working on isn’t for them, they still keep getting it everyday. We should have an approach similar to them that aims at doing better for others and helping them grow better.”

Proceeding towards the convocation ceremony, it was our top 3 rankers-Bhavesh Singh Sabharwal, Hardik Jariwala and Aayush Majumdar that set out the loudest cheer from the audience and left us all with biggest smiles and immense pride.

Signing off from the event, Mr.Irfan Pathan had a special message, ” India is going to become a sporting country in the future for sure. There was a time when so many people were even hesitant to let their kids play but now with so many events happening, the scenario has changed. It’s good to be here and share my experience with all the amazing future Sports Managers. The one thing that’s most important is to build and nurture the trust of your athlete or the organisation you’ll be working with. And if you do so, sky is the limit.” We couldn’t agree more!

As we finally say goodbye to our Heroes, we want them to know we as an institute shall always support them and help them achieve their goals of becoming a successful Sports Manager. That’s all from the IISMConvocation2017 ceremony. Stay tuned as we bring to you various insights of the Sports Industry.