CHENNAI: The Elliot’s Beach in Chennai is one of the city’s most popular hangout spots. People come here for all sorts of reasons — walking, playing football or cricket, hanging out with friends. For Praveen Kumar and Sivaraman Venkatesan, Elliot’s Beach is much more than that. It’s the field of their dreams, the temple they go to on a daily basis. You might have come across Kumar and Venkatesan. They are two of the many who play ‘Ultimate’, one of the fastest-growing recreational sports.
What is it? It involves a frisbee, a shiny disc, two teams of five or seven people each, and two goalposts. The game is played on grass as a seven-a-side affair or on sand as a five-a-side affair. It is played on a rectangular area, roughly the size of one half of a football ground with end zones on both sides. The objective is to grab the disc at the opponent’s end zone.
That’s how a team scores a point. A player with a disc can move only after passing it to a teammate while the defending team tries to intercept or block the pass. It is non-contact and self-referred where the intention is to see the players own up to their mistakes. Kumar and Venkatesan, who play for India, were recently named in the Asia Oceanic team of the year by Ultiworld after India’s podium finish at the Asia Oceanic Beach Ultimate Championship 2019 in Japan.
Kumar is called Rocket, a nickname given by his friends and he lives up to that with his pace on the field. Captain of the national team during the 2017 World Beach Championships as well as the Asia Oceanic Beach Ultimate Championships, Rocket, thanked BookASmile for sponsoring the contingent in the last three tournaments.
In Chennai, there are almost 10 clubs which practise in Besant Nagar beach on a daily or weekend basis. “Clubs are maintained by the players themselves. We don’t have sponsors,” says the 26-year-old, who works in a private company.
Venkatesan fell in love with the game and played his first international tournament in the World Championships of Beach Ultimate 2015 in Dubai. “It was a great experience to play at that level,” says the Flywild club player. He also coaches his club and expects more youngsters to come into the sport.
“The clubs are friendly and welcome all. Anyone can come to the beach and practise throwdowns,” says the 25-year-old. The 2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championships campaign was a forgettable one for India, as they failed to win a single match.
“After that, I had second thoughts about continuing the game. But I came back after I was motivated by others,” he says. The sport helps in the overall development of a child. “NGOs are using this sport as a tool to teach kids.
This sport is self-referred which teaches sportsmanship and fair play,” says Kumar. Currently, around 30 kids in the fishing community are playing for several clubs in the city.