Overview

With the college gearing up to welcome the first fest of the academic year, few people seem to be busier than the members of the sports teams. Players slouch back to their Bhawans after a gruelling day of classes and rush off to a gruelling evening of practice after a quick wash. Members of the Girls’ Volleyball Team are no different. The team began their practice sessions in the second week of the semester.

The team has been having daily practice sessions of an hour and a half; things are expected to get more hectic after the coach arrives. The frequent rains have been a deadly threat to the team spirit. The ball often becomes wet, and the ground becomes sloshy, making it difficult for the team to play.

Past performance

The team won bronze in 2015 and suffered defeat in 2016, despite playing well. This time, they fear that the rain might be a major setback, but their superb performance in outstation games, like the ones in IIT Delhi, is a major confidence boost.

Recruitments

The team recruitments were not very exciting this year, and the team remains without first year members, despite counting on more participation from the first and second year students. The turnout for the trials was great in terms of numbers but unfortunately not so in terms of enthusiasm. Two of the fourth year students who are busy with their thesis work and placements will not be playing this BOSM. There are only one or two new players who are regular, but they are in their fourth year and not yet part of the team.

Captain’s Interview

Shreya Pathak’s commitment for the volleyball team and the sport was evident even in the short interview she managed to squeeze into her hectic practice schedule. But despite the devotion, she isn’t blindly optimistic about the team’s prospects, given the rains which arrive on time daily to hamper the practice sessions.

“I have been playing since eighth grade and managing academics along with the game has become habitual for me. And we don’t study all the time anyway. I don’t get exhausted easily due to improved stamina. So I don’t need to sleep in between classes or take siestas after lunch. It is a shame that the new first year batch is reluctant to take up commitments and lacks the enthusiasm that the team demands,” she says.

Being the captain, Shreya naturally finds this BOSM more taxing than the previous editions. While the worst ramification of being late for a session was being rebuked in her first two years, now her team’s punctuality and commitment depend on her own. Given the dearth of good players, she needs to interact with her team members tactfully to keep them from slacking off. She needs to be careful in dealing with the institute and the CoSSAc too. But taxing as it is, Shreya says she is thoroughly enjoying the tension that comes along with the responsibility, probably because of her love for the game. She believes her fellow team members are excited about BOSM too. Let’s wish them all luck for the games ahead.