With BOSM round the corner, the BOSM English Press sat down with the squash boys’ team Captain, Ishwar Sarda, to discuss the team’s preparations.

Ishwar explained that squash is an indoor sport played by hitting a ball to your opponent by bouncing it off a wall. When a side fails to return a ball to the opponent’s court, its opponent gains a point. The side to reach a score of eleven points or greater while maintaining a lead of two or more points over its opponent wins the game. He said that it had both singles and doubles versions, but BITS only had a singles court.

Ishwar explained that at BOSM, there were two squash events: one team and one individual. He said that the events were structured in a knock-out style. He stated that he expected three external teams comprising three players each—two main, one substitute—to participate, alongside the two BITS squash teams each also comprising three people. When asked about BITS’ past performance at squash, Ishwar emphasised that the niche nature of squash made outcomes highly variable, with the team’s performance depending largely on whether its members had past experience. Nevertheless, he affirmed that they had been doing fairly well recently, having gone to an outstation tournament at IIT Roorkee, where they placed fourth out of eight teams. In response to a question about rival teams, Ishwar stated that while a rivalry per se did not exist, the team enjoyed a certain sense of camaraderie with the IIT Delhi team, with whom they had also played casually.

Talking about the recruitment process, Ishwar stated that it was relatively competitive, with fewer than five of around a hundred applicants being recruited. He emphasised that endurance and fitness were essential preconditions,since squash is a very intensive game. This focus carried over into team practices as well,which he added emphasised greatly on fitness and drills to improve form than on just matches. Every day, the team had to run five rounds of the GymG track within thirty minutes, with an average expected pace of a kilometre in six minutes, followed by basic drills to improve stamina and muscle memory. Matches were reserved for Sundays, when the team conducted a mini-tournament. According to Ishwar, all members of the team were subject to the same regimen.

Discussing the issues faced by the team, Ishwar mentioned a low turnout of participant teams as well as the lack of training resources and a dedicated coach. Ishwar explained that only one external squash team had shown up to BOSM last year, despite an expected turnout of 5–6 teams, adding that these factors had led to the disbanding of the girls’ squash team at the college. To mitigate this, he had suggested inviting students from elite boarding schools, which had exceptional squash infrastructure, to BOSM. As of the time of the interview, the CoSSaC and the institute had not responded to his proposal. Additionally, he felt that the cleaning of the squash court could be more regular. 

About his own journey to the team, Ishwar stated that he had been playing squash for around eight years and had already competed at the national level prior to college, having even attended a camp in New York City where he was mentored by a former international champion just this past summer. He recounted how he defeated the then-incumbent team Captain during recruitments, and emphasised his close bonds with the team and its members. Ishwar said that he enjoyed being Captain, and that the process of teaching the basics to junior players had also helped improve his own game. According to him, balancing academics with sports was a hard task, but manageable, particularly since playing sports increased one’s focus.

In parting, Ishwar said that he had observed many students playing squash for leisure in BITS, and hoped that after this edition of BOSM, some of them would be encouraged to apply for the team and view the sport as a means to improve their overall fitness, comparing it to working out at the gym.