Raising Awareness of Mental Health Struggles in Amateur Cricketers: Shahbaz Choudhry

1. SHAHBAZ CHOUDHRY

‘Every aspiring cricketer has a dream to make it as a professional. But the truth is, many players will never reach that goal’, says Shahbaz Choudhry – the founder of the world’s largest fast bowling platform, Pace Journal. He is a specialist fast bowling coach and consultant who has been acting as a catalyst for over 100,000 cricketers and coaches in understanding the deep insights of pace bowling. Unlike other coaches, Shahbaz, in his statement, does reflect a lucid reality of the sports world. He does this not to demotivate young cricketers but to bring them closer to the real aspects of sports and life, to make them face the reality and accept it with positivity, and to make them realize the importance of moving forward in life no matter what, which will be elucidated as you read on.

Raising Awareness of Mental Health Struggles in Amateur Cricketers Which NO ONE Talks About: Shahbaz Choudhry

SHAHBAZ ENCOUNTERING HARDSHIPS

Growing up with all his passion for cricket, young Shahbaz played cricket in England through the county age-group system for Middlesex and then Northamptonshire Academy. His skills and dedication served him with the fortune of a professional contract from Northamptonshire in 2009. But this fortune could not stay with him for long. Being excessively obsessed with his ambitions, inexperienced Shahbaz tried too hard to experiment with his fast bowling techniques. This led him to the point where he got deprived of his original fast bowling skills, resulting in the loss of his first professional contract. This loss was expensive enough to cost him physically as he gained over 30kg of body fat as well as mental health struggles for years to come.

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OVERCOMING HARDSHIPS IN SHAHBAZ’S WAY

Then came into play the term that completely dominates the life of Shahbaz Choudhry. ‘Mental Toughness’ was what he sought for and carved out for himself. It dates back to 2017 when he picked up the ball not with the thought of being a professional player but with the motive of correcting his past mistakes, to regain the unmatched feeling that he had while bowling without a pinch of heaviness in his mind or heart. Little did he know that this effort was going to unveil a future for him that he had never dreamt of.

LEARNING FROM MISTAKES

Encountering his first downfall in his career did not stop Shahbaz from reaping success. Not only did he cope with his mental and physical health issues but also wrapped up his learning from his mistakes into something virtuous. Combating with every negativity that came in his way, Shahbaz launched a project called “Pace Journal” in the year 2018. The motif of “Pace Journal” rests in the thought of protecting other ambitious cricketers away from the mistakes that he made in his journey and this goal was achieved by producing the most effective and informative content about fast bowling from the best names in the world like Ishant Sharma, Tino Best, Mark Wood, Tymal Mills, Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood, Lockie Ferguson and last but not the least Kylie Jamieson.

 A UNIQUE ENTREPRENEURIAL PERSPECTIVE

One of the most important things that has been active throughout the journey of Shahbaz is his unique perspective in every field. The entrepreneurial angle that he has can be seen in his opinion that says:

“I noticed a gap in the market. I call it “time-sensitive” content versus “timeless content”. I found it very frustrating when I would see interviews or articles of fast bowlers that I admire and the content was always about something related to the game they just played in etc. This is time sensitive content and 2 to 3 days after the event, no one cares about it anymore. It’s old news.

For example, I didn’t want or need to know that Ishant Sharma took 5 wickets in a test match.  What I wanted to know was HOW and WHAT Ishant Sharma did differently to take 5 wickets in a test match. I call this timeless content as it will be useful decades after the event!”

The world would have been a much better place if every person was so aware of the information that he feeds on a daily basis. Shahbaz Choudhry is a real preacher of having effective learning and productive information that helps one both physically and mentally to soar over the waves of time