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Sunday, Apr 20, 2008
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Sport - Basketball

Talk..., and substance too

Stan Rayan

BASKETBALL / Smruthi will go a long way, says her coach

R.K. Smruthi.

KOCHI: Very often, you see her wagging a lively finger at her teammates, screaming out orders or alerting them about impending danger.

A little later, as she watches her rivals rush towards the basket, she yells out “defence, defence” to her mates.

Motor mouth

R.K. Smruthi is quite a chatterbox on court.

When she plays, the words never stop. But the young basketballer is not just all talk, she is a lot of substance too.

As she rushes into the lane, fast, powerful and a bit threateningly too, almost like a battering ram, her opponents virtually give way.

And she can be everywhere… intercepting passes, harrying opponents, feeding her teammates, plucking rebounds, dribbling up and down the court at a fast pace… almost all at once.

She is quite a shooter too.

And after almost every basket, she jumps in glee and rushes to hit high fives with her teammates.

Watching Smruthi can be pure joy. She lights up the court, brings games alive.

“She is very aggressive player, almost plays like a man,” says P.J. Sunny, the Basketball Federation of India’s Selection Committee Chairman and a very experienced official and coach.

“She is quite talkative too, communicates very well with her teammates. That’s a very crucial aspect but very few players do that.”

The 16-year-old was one of the stars of Kerala’s triumph at the National Youth Championship in Lucknow early this year.

The other day, in Alappuzha, Smruthi helped Kollam win its maiden State junior title.

Most valuable player

“She’s our most valuable player,” says Kollam coach Rajan David.

“She is very aggressive, very talented…defence, offence, she can do everything.”

Smruthi, daughter of former State volleyballer Radhakrishnan, took to basketball just three years ago.

As a little girl, she was a promising athlete at Kozhikode.

One day, she attended a trial to pick talented girls for the Kerala Sports Council’s Centralised Sports Hostel in Kollam. That transformed her life completely.

“I learned all my basketball at Kollam,” says Smruthi, a plus-one student at the SN Trust School.

“I watch boys’ matches frequently and that’s probably one reason for my aggression. And now a lot of boys encourage me.”

Her idol

Like every other young basketballer in Kerala, her idol is Geethu Anna Jose, currently the country’s most famous player.

“I want to be like her, I know I can,” says 176-cm Smruthi about the Asian star who now plays in Australia.

Coach Rajan David is confident Smruthi will hit big time.

“She is something special, she will go a long way,” he says.

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