school, plaster and grit...
a little background first - i played basketball for my school and various clubs for many years,and even managed to play for my state, delhi, too at national championship..so, that thing entitles me to the distinction of being a national level basketball player :)
i started my basketball in school when i was in 3rd class, and how..i dont remember now. later on when i was in 8-9th i regularly used to bunk my basketball practice and instead go to cricket practice in school or even go to play cricket matches of our locality with my friends..those were my best sporting days..can i get them back...sorry, no looking back ;)...
one coaching mate or the other always used to tell my coach where i had been yesterday , when i missed my coaching..and this revealation about my whereabouts always happened when i had already made an excuse about missing my coaching. thus, scoldings and severe physical training(punishment in my vocabulary) were always part and parcel of my basketball coaching (maybe its from there only, that now i make such great excuses that no-one can find any reason whatsoever not to believe them..maybe u might have already fallen for one of my excuses...keep guessing)i dont know what my coach saw in me, but he always wanted me to be serious and to concentrate on bball. i think he saw making of some great (ok, at least very gud )player in me, but i never understood and dilly-dollied all his ideas and plans about my future in basketball.
the story begins...
there was a superhero named...ohh sorry, lets begin again
2nd october, 1997 (this date is correct, no confusion there)
i had came back from national basketball championship and our school's annual basketball tournament was about to start in a few days' time. so, 2nd oct being a national holiday (and dry day), all shops were closed and i desperately needed a hair cut , so i stretched my knowledge of barber shops and was able to locate one shop which was open and operating. after my hair-cut, i had an accident and my right ankle was injured, and it was cased in a plaster just before the start of our tournament. Playing in this tournament is one of the major highlight of one's career ..and i was about to miss that oppurtunity.
tournament started and i started on the bench with my injured ankle. finals arrived, and as expected, it was us against modern school..a fiery team to say least. i am not that brilliant a player but still was among the top 5 players in my team. so, till now we had managed to beat the teams even without our full-fledged team, but these were finals. we started off with me on bench and a 3-pointer basket from our star shooter. but it just began well, after that it was all down slope for us. we were lagging by 7 points after first quarter. new strategy, alternative formation and we tried to catch up with rivals but after half time, we were 15 points behind them.
Then, my coach just asked me whether i can afford to risk my injury and play...and i nodded in affirmative. i was given instructions and how to compliment my team-mates on the field and we got ready. So there i was, hopping on one leg, putting minimum stress on my other ankle and making moves, giving passes, shooting and scoring for my team. in the end, we breathed down our rival's efforts and won the match and the trophy. before the match,I was not even able to walk properly and there i was running and ended up being highest scorer in the final match. next day, for the first time, my name appeared in the daily newspaper TOI. after that i wasn't able to walk for 2 more weeks...just stood as an umpire for our locality's cricket matches :(
a little background first - i played basketball for my school and various clubs for many years,and even managed to play for my state, delhi, too at national championship..so, that thing entitles me to the distinction of being a national level basketball player :)
i started my basketball in school when i was in 3rd class, and how..i dont remember now. later on when i was in 8-9th i regularly used to bunk my basketball practice and instead go to cricket practice in school or even go to play cricket matches of our locality with my friends..those were my best sporting days..can i get them back...sorry, no looking back ;)...
one coaching mate or the other always used to tell my coach where i had been yesterday , when i missed my coaching..and this revealation about my whereabouts always happened when i had already made an excuse about missing my coaching. thus, scoldings and severe physical training(punishment in my vocabulary) were always part and parcel of my basketball coaching (maybe its from there only, that now i make such great excuses that no-one can find any reason whatsoever not to believe them..maybe u might have already fallen for one of my excuses...keep guessing)i dont know what my coach saw in me, but he always wanted me to be serious and to concentrate on bball. i think he saw making of some great (ok, at least very gud )player in me, but i never understood and dilly-dollied all his ideas and plans about my future in basketball.
the story begins...
there was a superhero named...ohh sorry, lets begin again
2nd october, 1997 (this date is correct, no confusion there)
i had came back from national basketball championship and our school's annual basketball tournament was about to start in a few days' time. so, 2nd oct being a national holiday (and dry day), all shops were closed and i desperately needed a hair cut , so i stretched my knowledge of barber shops and was able to locate one shop which was open and operating. after my hair-cut, i had an accident and my right ankle was injured, and it was cased in a plaster just before the start of our tournament. Playing in this tournament is one of the major highlight of one's career ..and i was about to miss that oppurtunity.
tournament started and i started on the bench with my injured ankle. finals arrived, and as expected, it was us against modern school..a fiery team to say least. i am not that brilliant a player but still was among the top 5 players in my team. so, till now we had managed to beat the teams even without our full-fledged team, but these were finals. we started off with me on bench and a 3-pointer basket from our star shooter. but it just began well, after that it was all down slope for us. we were lagging by 7 points after first quarter. new strategy, alternative formation and we tried to catch up with rivals but after half time, we were 15 points behind them.
Then, my coach just asked me whether i can afford to risk my injury and play...and i nodded in affirmative. i was given instructions and how to compliment my team-mates on the field and we got ready. So there i was, hopping on one leg, putting minimum stress on my other ankle and making moves, giving passes, shooting and scoring for my team. in the end, we breathed down our rival's efforts and won the match and the trophy. before the match,I was not even able to walk properly and there i was running and ended up being highest scorer in the final match. next day, for the first time, my name appeared in the daily newspaper TOI. after that i wasn't able to walk for 2 more weeks...just stood as an umpire for our locality's cricket matches :(
Wow..
ReplyDeleteand yet all i really focused on is how well u make excuses.. hmm and was i at the recieving end of them.....
Well well, what a superman!!.. oh, sorry, "you're no superman", well, let's just call you a great guy! ;)
ReplyDelete@aditi
ReplyDeleteur bday cake...see any excuse there :P
@fireangel
=) I'm no superman!!!lol ...great guy...im honoured but doesnt deserve it :)