Overview
With BOSM coming up soon, the Badminton Team for Boys is keeping up a rigorous practice regime for two hours at least on a daily basis. The team is now awaiting the arrival of their coach, Chandramohan – a professional badminton coach from the Air Force Academy, Jodhpur – who is scheduled to reach by the 10th of September.
BOSM 2017 will witness two 4-member teams representing BITS Pilani. Each team will play 1 doubles match and 2 singles matches.
The training sessions predominantly concentrate on improving the foot movement of the recruits. The schedule can be expected to get more rigorous in the upcoming days. The punctuality shown by students and organisers has been commendable, giving them time to prepare for one of the biggest sports fests of India.
Past Performance
The team secured a bronze medal in the previous edition of BOSM, and won the silver medal at the BITS Sports Festival, Dubai held last year. The team had also won the gold medal in Sangram 2015, the sports fest of IIT Roorkee. Despite these accomplishments, the team is constantly striving to get better.
Recruitments
The team was looking to recruit first and second year students as they would be a part of the team for a longer time. In view of this, three first year students were recruited into the team. Selection was primarily based on the physical and mental strength of the candidates, after which they were tested on their game. Aspirants found the procedure to be tough with a lot of competition. The captain seemed pretty impressed with the people who were recruited.
Captain’s Interview
Prolonged and intense training sessions, and exhausting academic commitments are now a part of the daily schedule of Aman Agarwal, the captain of the Badminton Team for Boys. He has been playing badminton since his childhood, during which time he did not receive any professional coaching.
During his younger days, he played a wide range of sports. However, when he came to college, tennis and badminton were his favourites. But unfortunately, due to a sad mishap while playing tennis, he had to undergo a surgery in his shoulder. This put him out of action for a few months. But Aman tried very hard to get back to sports and got into the Badminton Team.
Despite having an opportunity to take up badminton professionally, during his childhood, Aman chose academics over badminton. Now, as a captain, he is happy for where he is. Speaking of the team and recruits, he felt that the extraordinary quality that the recruits have is the “will to play”. ‘As you become a senior, you get involved in a lot of things and hence you cannot give enough time to the team.’
When asked about the captaincy making his hairs go grey, he said, ‘Surely, it brings the pressure to perform well on you, but it doesn’t really matter much because a captain has a lot of responsibilities other than the game. So, it does not affect my natural game.’ The captain also has a good rapport with the Council for Students’ Sports Activities (CoSSAc) and the institute, which are important to carry the team forward.
Being a fourth year student who has been a part of the team since his first year, he feels that even though balancing academics and sports can get difficult at times, it is not impossible. ‘You have to give whatever you can in both the places. Spending a couple of hours in the evening is no such big deal.’ Aman stressed on maintaining a balance between sports and academics.
‘Do not stop playing. Just keep practicing and be regular, as devoting time for sports can make you disciplined in life’, said Aman, before signing off.