After a long day that comprised a test or two, along with a two-hour practice session, Nandita Vakeel, the Captain of the Girls’ Basketball team, sat down with the BOSM English Press to talk about the team’s preparation for the upcoming BOSM. 

Basketball is a game that runs on a point system depending on from where one takes the shot. A basket scored from outside the three-point line shall award three points to the scoring team, and one scored from within said line shall award two points to the scoring team. A basketball team has twelve players, with five on the court from each team at any point in time. These players are of five types depending on their roles and positions, namely, Point Guard, Defensive Guard, Centre, Offensive Forward, and Defensive Forward. A match is 32 minutes long, with the match being split into four quarters. In case of a tie, the tie is broken by playing an extra quarter.

When asked about the team’s training regimen, Nandita explained that they trained for roughly two hours a day, and would be training for an extra hour in the morning starting the following week. The training regimen includes several jumping exercises, along with role-specific drills and practice matches. A major issue that Nandita observed in spite of this rigorous training routine was that the coaches tended to be more focused on the men’s basketball team. This problem is highlighted because their practices were held at the same time as that of the girls. Another major issue that Nandita said the team faced was the absence of girls. Nandita explained that the team at present has nine girls, which is enough to play in a tournament, but added that the unavailability of even a few players continued to pose difficulties during practice. 

Nandita highlighted the achievements of the Girls’ Basketball team in the recent past. They were the first or second runners-up at the previous editions of BOSM and were also semifinalists at the 2021 edition of Sportech, IIT Delhi’s annual sports fest. Nandita mentioned that the recruitments into the team were held across a week, with dedication and work ethic in the potential recruits being valued over everything else, since skills were something that could be worked on. Nandita explained that recruitments over the past semester brought in four new players in order to compensate for the outgoing batch of students. She added that she was very happy with the quality of the new recruits, labelling them very talented and receptive.

Nandita explained that she started playing basketball in 11th grade but was not very regular  with it until she came to campus. She decided to pick up basketball in order to not be focusing only on academics, and was provided a push for the same by her department senior, Eesha Karnawat. She mentioned that she had always been a very athletic person, having played football as a child. She then addressed how captaining the basketball team has made her feel ‘blind’ on multiple occasions, especially because she had not been on the team for very long, having joined only last year. She added that her captaincy affected her gameplay a lot because she felt personally responsible for how motivated everyone on court felt and also because her focus shifted from what she could do better for the team to how to bring out the best in each player in the team. 

Nandita said that the CoSSAc had been very receptive to requests such as extensions for meal time and practice time. When asked how she balanced academics, sports, and other personal commitments, she explained that it was an issue she still struggled with. Having a full day of classes, followed by intense practice sessions make for a hectic schedule, but nevertheless, Nandita is excited for the fest and for her team’s performance during it.