KOCHI: The gate to former volleyball player K C Elamma’s residence ‘Arjunaalayam’ near Vedivechancoil in the capital city is chiseled to look like a volleyball flying over the net. Portrayals, though, do not just stop there.
At the front door is an elaborate depiction of Arjuna taking aim at the wooden fish looking at its reflection in water.
“Volleyball is life,” Elamma says, and the Arjuna award she considers her greatest achievement in it. In 1975, she had become the first Keralite to win it for volleyball.
There were six of them, highly talented. But she stood out quiet distinctively. Kerala’s first woman Arjuna awardee, Elamma rose to fame with ‘Namakuzhy Sisters’ during the 1960s.
Post retirement too, Elamma seldom finds herself away from a volleyball court, as she serves as the team manager of the Kerala Police women’s team. She is also a member of the 35th National Games Organising Committee and leads a community of past and present players named Volley Family Club.
“Those days, we never went for Arjuna awards. Rather, they came to us which is in the right scheme of things,” she says, criticising the way the awards are declared these days. “The irony is that still several candidates miss out,” Elamma adds.
“Tom Joseph is the best player I have seen after (the late) Jimmy George and should have easily won it four or five years ago. These days, everything works with recommendation, even when it comes to national team selections. But I am happy for him,” she says.
Elamma was introduced to the sport at Namakuzhy GHS by the late George Varghese and earned a name in the school nationals for Kerala. She reminisces that women entering the fray in sports was few and far between those days, but the ‘sisters’ made it trendy for the future generations.
In the year 1972, two police officers came to the village near the border of Ernakulam and Kottayam, recruiting all six of the Namakuzhy Sisters for the Police team. Ten years as a player and coach with Police, leading Kerala to gold in the 1971 Jamshedpur nationals and numerous outings with the national team earned her the Arjuna in 1975.
However, Elamma feels that the game has lost its lustre in modern times. Significant changes in laws of the game over the last few decades, she feels, have been a killjoy.
Elamma also feels that women’s volleyball in the state has fallen off the mark set by the predecessors. “Lack of competition is the major concern. After KSEB and Police, there are no decent sides in the state. Also, many girls these days prioritize job security and take the game only as a way to reach there,” Elamma says.
“Me and my contemporaries could never have thought like that,” adds Elamma, who is currently planning to open a volleyball academy jointly with other stalwarts in the city.
K C Elamma
Born: Mulakulam, Muvattupuzha
Major Achievements:
1971: First gold for Kerala in Senior National Championships
1972: Joined Kerala Police women’s volleyball team
1975: Arjuna Award
1976: Won Test series with India in Ceylon against Ceylonese volleyball team
1971-1985: Represented Kerala in the Senior Women National Championship for 15 years