DIFFERENT STROKES
Sweat it out and study well
CHANDRIKA S.
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Some colleges encourage sports and some don't. A look at what students do.
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Fitness matters: You must spend some time in your college playground
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Participating in sports is an important part of people's lives. Most schools have a couple of hours designated for sports every week, and have an annual Sports Day to encourage students to play games to stay fit.
The importance of sports is undeniably great, but the enthusiasm of many students often diminishes once they reach college because of their busy schedules and often because there aren't enough facilities. However, there are several students who are passionate enough to continue playing and bringing glory to themselves and their educational institution.
The Hindu EducationPlus spoke to a few students to see how they were encouraged by their colleges.
Priyanka Lal (University Law College): We practice from 3 to 6 in the evening, but the university allows us to use its gym only on particular days, so we have to travel 18 km for regular practice. Since we are enthusiastic, we make our way to different tournaments, during which we miss classes, but the college takes care of our attendance. The seniormost students train the juniors and are pretty good. A proper coach is not essential, but having one would be nice. It would make a huge difference if the university renovated the courts and gym and permitted us to use them regularly.
Advaitaa Ravi (Centre for Management Studies): We practice rugby for two hours on Wednesday mornings and Saturday evenings. We don't usually miss classes, and the coaches don't encourage us to bunk classes to play. My coach is brilliant, but honestly we don't have a good place to practice. There aren't many grass fields in Bangalore, and the available ones are either too expensive to rent or used by the committee to promote football or cricket instead. Rugby isn't encouraged enough and hardly gets any sponsors though it's developing at a good pace. The only way it can be improved is if people give it a chance.
Dipta Maitra (Mount Carmel College): I've been playing football for the college for a year now. We usually have practice from 7 to 9 every morning, and we often miss the first hour of class, but that's not a problem. We play at the college grounds, and we have a good coach, although initially the juniors get trained by the seniors. We go for many inter-college matches, and the college has given me a chance to learn a sport I had always been interested in. Playing football also helps lose fat and build muscle, and the daily morning session makes you charged up for the whole day.
Shyamala Suresh (Mount Carmel College): I've been playing basketball for the college for over four years now. We practice for about three hours from Monday to Saturday in the college court, though we had to go to Sophia or Kanteerava Stadium while construction was going on here. We miss many classes and have problems with tests and tournament dates clashing. The college doesn't provide any facilities, but since our coach is a very enterprising woman, she gets foreign coaches to come here once in a while to train us.
Akshay Gururaj (Christ College): My college encourages everything from basketball to football, and recently cricket. We practice every day for about two hours 0n the college grounds. You get extra credit for playing basketball, but I'm not really sure about cricket. We don't have a cricket coach, but we have quite good facilities when compared to many other colleges. We don't have workshops, but we are being sent to Malaysia this year for a cricket tournament, which we are really happy about. For now, I think the college can do more to encouraging the game by including it in our annual sports fest.
Malanda Dilip Chondamma (BMS College of Engineering): Our college encourages many sports like football, basketball, tennis, badminton and table tennis. Right now the girls' tennis team has only two members — my partner and me. We practice ourselves (since we don't have a coach) once or twice a week. We don't miss classes for practice because the court is opened only after classes are over for the day, but if we miss classes during tournaments, we get attendance as long as we give our lecturers prior notice. It would be nice if the college informed us when tournaments are happening, and if they supported people playing at high levels even if not for the college.
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