What are the possible career choices that you know of before you start applying for prestigious colleges and universities? Engineering, Medical, Commerce and Arts are some of the niches that you might be familiar with. However, if you ask a child about this dream career, many students would give one answer is ‘SPORTSMAN’.

Sports as a career has always been seen as time-consuming, costly, and often ignored by the masses. In a country like India, where everyone is invested heavily in sports, its importance is just the tip of the iceberg.

Apart from the urban region where India is highlighted for all its glory, the other half—rural India—is still unexplored. While one side enjoys the efficient opportunities provided in multiple streams, the youth residing on the other side often stay unfamiliar or turn a blind eye to it.

Though the scope for rising and specific individual sports niches is quite low in a cricket-loving country like India, the opportunities and scholarships provided by the prominent universities in India and abroad are immense.

After exploring the opportunities and sending her daughter to pursue an undergraduate program with a 100% sports scholarship in one of the ivy-league colleges in the US, Padmavathi Devarakonda decided to switch careers and be the guiding lamp to the real talent that goes unnoticed in India.

She brought ACA Sports Counselling to life through her sheer dedication and vision with www.acasportscounselling.com. In our quest to find the ‘Best Career Counsellors, 2022’ we came across her and her exceptional journey and ideas that inspires and guides the youth to chase their dreams while the opportunities of the world being their cape.

The Story that Triggered the Switch!

Mrs Padmavathi Devarakonda holds an MA and M.Phil. in English from the prestigious Osmania University. Being a wife of a merchant navy officer and mother of a Tennis player, she is familiar with the opportunities to study and excel in both India and abroad. Being an experienced voyager, especially in the Tennis circuit, she has gained ample experience interacting with parents, players, and students from various countries. While narrating one of her experiences abroad, Mrs Padmavathi says, “One thing I have realised is that many parents are not aware of the sports scholarships available in the USA for international student-athletes to pursue their under-graduation program. That is when I did my career counselling course from Univariety Hyderabad, got my website, and started guiding students and parents as well.”

Exploring a Plethora of Opportunities

There are plenty of opportunities available in the global sports industry. Though digitalisation has restricted a generation to their phone screens, the outdoor sporting industry is still rich and in demand for everyone.

ACA Sports Counselling was established with a motto to ‘Never Give Up’ and present numerous opportunities to the youth to succeed. Highlighting the opportunities in sports and the importance of counselling in the sports education stream, Mrs Padmavathi says, “My motto is never giving up. There are a plethora of opportunities available out there. Just grab them.“

Learning from the Learners

The learning process is never-ending, and with the world moving so fast in every field, it has become difficult for everyone to keep up with it. Being the sole proprietor of the organisation, Mrs Padmavathi has brought immense change in the sports education industry for athletes. While taking the student-athletes one step closer to being professional, Mrs Padmavathi has made sure that she has continued her learning process. Learning from her own athlete daughter and the students that she guides, she has created a win-win situation for everyone.

A Complete Counsellor

Being a counsellor who has explored a plethora of opportunities in the job market, Mrs Padmavathi has been the perfect counsellor throughout her journey. Rather than just explaining the opportunities to the student-athletes, she completes the counselling arc by including the student’s parents in the process.

Answering what makes her the ideal counsellor, Mrs Padmavathi expresses, “I want parents to understand that success does not come overnight. Be patient with your child. Talk to the counsellors periodically. Take their guidance.“

Unorthodox Counselling Methodologies

Mrs Padmavathi Devarakonda has chosen a very specific niche of counselling relating to sports. Being one of the forerunners in this sports student counselling, she has developed a very unique and unorthodox method of counselling by providing them proper exposure to the students to academics and non-academic activities.

Briefing about her unique methodologies in this field, Mrs Padmavathi Devarakonda says, “It is very important to give exposure to the students apart from their academics. Introduce them to various non-academic activities. There are a lot of online courses available. Goal setting along with action plan and realistic.“

“As I am associated with Univariety, I advise the students to enrol in Pro-Map which helps the students to build their profile,” adds Mrs Padmavathi.

An Advice on and to the Future

Advising students on having a significant future, Mrs Padmavathi says, “I advise the students to improve their soft skills and spoken (communication) skills which will help them in building their career.“

Further explaining her plans for ACA Sports Counselling, Mrs Padmavathi says, “Want to reach more and more students, especially remote areas where there is talent (sports) but no awareness.“