Kozhikode nets double

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Earlier this week, Kozhikode created history at the 29th State youth basketball championship in Kuravilangadu, by winning the boys and girls titles for the first time ever.

The key to this success has been proper planning and the combined effort of at least half a dozen basketball coaches.

District association secretary C. Sasidharan says coaches of schools in the city and from the suburbs were able to unite for a common cause.

Most of the players were from city schools while a few were from the suburbs, however they have been playing together for some years.

There were 8 from Silver Hills, 1 from Sree Narayana, 2 from Vattoli and 1 from Ganpath in the boy’s category.

In the girl’s team, Providence and St. Michael’s contributed 4 players each, Vattoli and Presentation had 2 representations.

S. Sreejith, who coached both teams, says their aim was to nurture a team for the future and according to him the efforts have started to show results.

“We have been training these kids from under-12 in the city schools alone and in the four years they have jelled as a unit. This was the reason why they upset many favourites in the championship,” said Sreejith.

The proper utilisation of available facilities is another reason, which Hari Krishnan, coach of Silver Hills School points out.

“It is never possible to train during the rainy season and moreover the indoor stadium, also used by SAI, is under renovation. But we have been able to manage because a few city schools have indoor facilities,” said Hari Krishnan.

“Silver Hills has an indoor facility and so does Providence College, which means both our boys and girls get to play at any time of the year.”

“On the other hand, a few other districts were only able to unite for a 10-day camp prior to the championship, which never helps in team bonding,” said Hari.

Apart from Sreejith and Hari Krishnan, the other coaches who contributed to the success of the district teams are C. Sudheer, Subramanium, P. K. Vijayan and Mary Kutty.

Last month, Kozhikode won the sub-junior girls title. It is indeed laudable that Kozhikode has been able to produce such wonderful results in the absence of sports hostels and qualified coaches.