Friday, October 26, 2007

my game..

college had a lot for me, and one of the many many things that the college gave me was my game.. basketball. i had played the game at school, but there was a never a platform for a beginner like me. i was never too tall.. just a little more than 173cms, thats a few whiskers more than 5' 7.5". i won't say that i turned out to be a "michael jordan" or someone, but yeah, by the time i finished graduation i was a player to the core!

well, when i joined the college we had just one senior batch to us. the college was just into its second year on the whole! we didn't have a basketball team as such. but, there were a few guys who could play. i was never too deep into sports, but one day while i was returning to the college hostel after classes, one of the guys on court called me to play. i went there for fun, and we used to have the so called "evening playtime" as basketball. but, it was never very serious, we never had a college team, and so the game was just for fun, not a competition to get a slot in the team!

then one day, one of my seniors called us and told that the university championship was around the corner, and that we needed to form a team. ahem, now though there were a few people who had played the game before, we never had the standards that was required at the university level. well, after a few days of running behind some of the guys, we could make up a team of 9 players.. well, that was 3 short of the maximum allowed. anyway, we had the first college basketball team in place!

we were sub-standard players with no coaching and in fact the court we had was just a muddy ground with two baskets at the end. the floor wasn't level, and there were big pieces of bricks around the place. well, we managed to do some shooting practice and go for the game. then, as a major shock came the news of our opponents. LNCPE.. the only sports college under the university and one of the best teams in the state! hmm, the odds against us were simply too many.. we lost, not just lost, we were battered!!

hmm, a defeat is never too good. principal summoned us the very next day and we were told that if we can't play properly, we shouldn't play at all!! well.. that was quite insulting. then it was the explanation time from us players. i would rather say it was the repair work on our image, hehe.. we told her our basic need. the court! we told her that we can't make a winning team having a court as bad as we had. we had more to say. we told her that everyone was not well acquainted with others to have the minimum level of understanding that is required for the game. we showed her the balls that we were practising with. we had some valid points, but we were not able to explain our position as well as we would have wanted.

as a couple of days passed, i was still doubtful if the principal really understood what we wanted to convey. that afternoon, during the recess i was taken aback by surprise. the court was laid with concrete!! it was a great feeling. a sort of a moral victory over the odds. well, as the time passed we got a proper court and we started getting better and better. but still we needed more to do well at the university level!

but now, more than the university tournament the interest had gotten into the inter-house tournament!! by the way, my college had 4 houses, namely ramanujan (blue), bhabha (gray), sarabhai (red) and raman (green)!! i belonged to the blue house, the defending overall champions but we were never too good at sports. hmm, the house basketball team was selected and i was in. the team was not as bad as i had thought, but i always considered the other teams to be much better!

our first game was with red. they were the best of the lot, the favourites! i was a little excited, but not too confident. and the little confidence that i had diffused into thin air when i saw the crowd that had gathered around the court, the whole bloody college was out there!!! well, as the game started i was still nervous. i didn't really have an idea on how the others played! the game was held pointless for a good part of the beginning. i could make out that the crowd was getting on everyone's nerves on court. but, reds were good, they had majority of ball possession.

the baskets started being put, and the play was somewhat even while reds always had an upper hand. we reached the last 15 seconds, and we were two points down. i had the ball, and i knew the team trusted me with my game. i had the responsibility. i dribbled the ball around, and reached the three point line. should i or shouldn't i. i didn't have time to decide. right then, the red guy guarding me called in for another guy. a two on one situation. i dribbled a bit, and while doing it one of them got their hand hit hard on my nose. i knew i didn't have much of a choice and i took my shot. the ball sailed into the air. everyone looked on. missed!! i missed the basket. we lost the game.

well, though we lost the game, i learnt a few things. firstly, my team had some fire to come up close to defeating the best. then, i learnt that the people around affected the game. and the last thing, don't hope that the refereeing would be fair enough to get the foul calls on you.

anyway, as it was to be the grays defeated the greens, and our match was with the greens for the third place. we were a better knot team now. and we won comprehensively. as the tournament ended, i got a small fan-gang among my friends! and the appreciation that i got for the game i played told me that this is my game. i thought of giving in some effort to it.

as time passed, basketball became one of the most loved sports of my college and we got better players every subsequent year. while the blue team was going stronger, the college team on the whole was getting better as well. our main rivals were Mar Baselious College of Engg & Tech, in short MBT. it all started when they called us for a friendly match, and we readily accepted. the game went well till the end with the scores almost leveled. actually we were leading by a point. we were in pretty good touch and the conversions of shoots to baskets was good. at this moment they said a minute's gameplay was left. withing the next 5 seconds they put a basket and were a point up. and the whistle rang!! i couldn't believe it, no one could. they cheated, even in a friendly match they cheated! and thus began the rivalry!

well, we took our revenge at the university tournament, and gave them a drubbing. thanks to our coach, Nicholas sir!

the rest would be completed soon...............


1 comment:

Vijith Vijayakumar said...

Hey that was a good one...
Old days.. We never thought that we would become serious on the basketball matter when we were playing an evening game in the muddy ground of ours...

And hey you missed out the Grey house.. the bhabha house.. we have always got the overall champions for basketball, except the last year.. Anyways leave all the inter-house competitions.. We are a team. Adios...