THRISSUR: For her fellow villagers and trainers, Ancy Sojan’s silver in the long jump at the recent Asian Games was a bittersweet moment. Although proud as punch, the achievement also reminded them of the sorry state of affairs of the Nattika Sports Academy, in Thrissur, which gave rise to athletes such as Ancy and Anjali P D. Sidelined by poor funding and support, the academy’s situation finds resonance in the life story of Sanoj V V, one of its trainers, who now rides an auto-rickshaw to eke out a living.
Sanoj aka Kannan Mash was himself an athlete in his younger days.
The knowledge passed on by his uncle and experience in participating in athletic meets, equipped him to train schoolchildren, mainly at the lower primary and upper primary levels.
“Under my tutelage, Nattika UP school won two district championships, which increased my confidence,” says the 43-year-old.
Over the past 27 years, Kannan has trained more than 500 children for free. When the going got tough, he started collecting a nominal fee from February this year. Nattika Sports Academy was set up in 2014 with the support of local residents.
For a year Manappuram Foundation provided funding as part of its CSR programme, which saw Kannan receiving a remuneration of Rs 25,000 per month. “We started with nine trainers at the academy, who now continue only out of passion,” he says.
Many of the students trained by Kannan have bagged medals in the district- and state-level sports championships.
The academy also used to take promising trainees to nearly 10 to 12 national meets every year.
Ancy developed passion through continuous practice, says ex-trainer
Anjali is a sprinter who has medalled at various national-level events. Ancy trained under Kannan from 2013 to 2021 after which she was selected to the national team. “From their dedication and performances, we ascertain their potential. Ancy was not serious about training early on. But through continuous practice, she developed the passion,” Kannan says.
He says it’s important to catch them young, which makes it easier to impart the discipline and regimen. “We start training at 5 a.m. every day. Right from being there on time, we can understand how passionate they are about sports,” said Kannan. Those who begin training by the time they are about 11 years old will find it easier to endure the pain and overcome the challenges.
Despite moulding the careers of many of his wards, Kannan has no remorse about how his life has shaped up. He is happy to bask in their limelight.
“I could not apply for government jobs as I was not a certified trainer. And I was reduced to training students at a personal level.”
Ancy says it was Kannan Mash who was instrumental in her shifting focus from sprints to long jump and motivated. “During my academy days, my best was 6.36m. (She jumped 6.63m to bag silver in Hangzhou.) I’m deeply indebted to Nattika Sports Academy and Kannan Mash for my career,” she added.