Through the Wrong Door | The World of Sports

Each of us has found themselves not where they planned at least once in their life. It happened to me in the fifth grade. That day, people came to our class and offered to join a mechanics and radio engineering club. They talked about how we would fix tape recorders, radios, and even go-karts, and then ride them. It sounded incredibly tempting, and we, the kids, got excited about this idea.

Gathering a group of five people, we went to sign up. But, as often happens, we made a classic mistake — we entered the wrong building. Instead of the radio engineering club, we found ourselves in a neighboring room, where we were met by two big guys of a sporty appearance. Still full of enthusiasm, we asked:

— Can you tell us where the radio engineering club is?

One of them smirked and replied:
— What radio engineering? Here we have judo training. If you want, come in, take a look. If you like it, come back tomorrow.

We looked at each other and decided to go in. The training session was just starting in the hall. Guys in pristine white kimonos were performing acrobatic elements, falling and immediately getting up, making throws. It was impressive. We got inspired by the new idea—signing up for judo.

For the first few months, our coach jokingly called us "radio engineers". A couple of years later, only I remained from our group. But by that time, judo had become a part of my life. I practiced it for over 20 years, made it to the Kazakhstan national team, traveled to many countries, met different people, saw how others lived. I performed decently, though I didn't become a sports star.

And you know, I never regretted that day when I walked through the wrong door. Perhaps it wasn't even a mistake, but part of some plan. Of course, sometimes it's interesting to think how my life would have turned out if we had gone in the right direction that day. But maybe that's the beauty of life — in unexpected turns and doors that open up new worlds before us.

The photo is taken from the author's personal archive.