This year, the girls’ volleyball team wasted no time in commencing their practice for BOSM. They conducted their trials a mere two days after Registration and began their training two days later. Currently, the team has two daily practice sessions — one in the morning reserved for endurance and skill training, and the other in the evening for practice games. The endurance training consists of various sets of exercises while the skill training is used to hone passing, underarm and overarm. There is also separate specialized training for the three positions in the team, namely the Bouncers, Spikers, and Setters. Aiding the team with their practice is the coach, Jasprinse Singh, who arrived on 22nd August. He has experience training the national team as well as the Indian Army team. Although he’s been described as a “chill” guy by Paridhi Chaturvedi, the girls’ captain, he is strict when it comes to practice and has even punished those who disobeyed him by making them duck-walk around the field five times.
A week before BOSM the team plans to spend their time playing a lot more practice games to improve team coordination. Instead of playing amongst themselves, which wouldn’t be of much use since the team members can predict each other’s moves, they have invited the volleyball team of Birla Balika Vidyapeeth and that of a local college for a couple of games.
One irritating, albeit small problem plaguing the practice sessions, are the sporadic rains which leave the ground in an unusable state. Furthermore, the aftermath of the rains leave the sandy court in no condition to be used. The team has to remove the water manually using buckets. Although the team has a few covers, there is only enough to cover one of the two courts.
The team’s main rivals in BOSM are the teams from Gargi and Atma Ram colleges. Last year, they came third, behind Gargi and Atma Ram. Besides BOSM, the team also participates in one outstation competition during the even semester. Previously, they went for IIT Bombay’s sports fest, Aavhan. It was their first experience playing in an indoor court. Although they didn’t win, according to Paridhi, they gained considerable experience.
The volleyball team was one of the first teams to recruit this semester. They conducted four sessions in two days and selected those who were regular and had decent skills in passing and underarm. Although the recruits aren’t skilled enough and haven’t had enough practice to play this BOSM, they are enthusiastic to learn more and have great potential. After BOSM, the team plans to focus on improving the recruitees’ skill.
Despite never having played Volleyball before coming to college, Paridhi Chaturvedi, the captain of the girls’ volleyball team, was drawn to the sport because it demands the use of the whole body. According to her, unlike other sports, volleyball requires much more coordination between different body parts. In her 1-2, on the insistence of her seniors, she decided to give the trials.
Paridhi doesn’t believe in being a stern captain — or at least not in BITS, which isn’t a sports-quota college. She understands that people have other priorities and believes that communication must be two-way. If she isn’t supportive, she risks losing team members. She didn’t have much to say when asked about her experiences as captain, but she did mention how her basic skills have improved tremendously as a result of her constantly having to teach juniors. However, this doesn’t leave her with much time to practice more advanced skills. For Paridhi, balancing academics and sports is a little challenging as she tends to be too tired to focus on studies post-practice sessions. Though most of the team’s star players have graduated or are currently doing their Practice School, Paridhi is confident they’ll do well and hopes for the best.