CHENNAI: The sight of children playing between two cricket stumps is a common one in the city, but the VGP Nagar streets of Velachery sport a different look. An orange ball is dribbled with a ferocious pace and the player easily slips it through a hoop on one end of the court.
Game on
The Velachery Basketball Players Society is one of the 400 clubs registered with the Tamil Nadu Basketball Association. Formed in 2010 and consisting of 150 members, this society not only has a club called the Velachery Warriors, which plays in tournaments across the state, but also engages in teaching and training for the sport. They bring children from the vicinity, most of them underprivileged, to learn the sport for free.
The administration of the society is usually present to supervise training sessions. “This is so that parents are equally involved in the learning process along with their children. Parents must not think they can just leave their children and the coach will do it all,” says Dhandapani, a retired policeman and a member of the society and club.
"Nearly 50 children who have signed up come for training every day," says vice president of the society, Guru Rajesh. Apart from them, 150 adults have signed up, who come to practice basketball based on their work schedule. They neither have sponsors nor are they associated with any groups for funding.
They do not want to accept any kind of funding, and keep the club non-commercial out of their love for the sport. "We are all professionals in our own right, like software engineers and police personnel. We all pitch in from our savings if the team needs equipment or jerseys," shares Guru.
Behind the ball
Basketball has been Dhandapani’s passion ever since his school days. He took part in state-level matches when in school at St Joseph’s in Cuddalore. He continued to play even after getting into the police department, and pursued it after moving to Chennai after retiring from service six years ago. “When I was a policeman, we had to mark our attendance at 7 am sharp. I continue that practice, except now I mark my attendance at the basketball court. I have to shoot hoops every day, unless of course the rains play spoilsport. In basketball, nobody can stay put even for a second. That is why I am drawn to the sport,” says the 66-year-old.
Pros and cons
Tamil Nadu has over 100 players from Chennai, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore and Coimbatore professionally playing basketball. Four players from Tamil Nadu represent India. The local disabled community also has a strong presence in the sport.
For Ram Kishore, head of operations of Nandini Milk in Chennai, despite being a basketball fanatic, he finds little time to practice. “I used to wake up early and go shoot hoops with my friends. Now, we are all into some job or the other, so we manage to meet only during the weekends to play. Since we do not get enough practice regularly, it is difficult for us to go for tournaments” says Ram.
According to Hari Hara Sudhan, head of operations at Rush, a multi-purpose sporting facility in RA Puram which allows teams to practice basketball, futsal and badminton, the sport is still finding its footing in the city. “The demand is yet to grow at a good rate as people are not into basketball as much as they are in other games like cricket.”
Team effort
Parents, too, are involved in the coaching process. They are given manuals and asked to help their children when they come for training every evening.