Tennis Legend Andre Agassi Advocates for Sports in Education

Bengaluru: Tennis icon and education philanthropist, Andre Agassi, urged that sports should remain integral to education as a means to teach children valuable life skills like perseverance and humility.

Speaking at a Bengaluru event focused on exploring the role of sports in education, Agassi expressed the importance of not only winning but also learning from defeat. "Even when you have a failure, you have to get up and play again the next day. So, what sports is teaching you is that focusing on winning and losing is really a distraction from what we need to be thinking about. We need to be thinking about how to get better," he said.

Agassi's dedication to education has led him to invest in 130 schools serving approximately 80,000 students underprivileged children in the United States since 2001. Citing his own journey, Agassi attributes this success to his unrelenting drive to overcome obstacles, which was shaped by his demanding tennis career.

"Sports is all about problem-solving. Tennis taught me how to navigate a very intense environment and maintain my objectivity and problem-solving abilities. It forces me to be present, but also to understand the context of what I'm doing," Agassi said.

Regarding his earlier defiant period, Agassi emphasized that vulnerability was an essential phase in his journey that ultimately led to humility. "Vulnerability is essential for growth, and I think vulnerability eventually leads to humility," he added.

Acknowledging the pivotal role of technology in education, Agassi has invested in India's EdTech company, Square Panda, which aims to provide individualized learning opportunities for children through technology.

"I think technology can play an essential role, not just in scalability, but also in optimising personalised learning. That's why I got involved with Square Panda. We are here because of the sheer scale of impact the technology will bring to education," he said.