Professionals love playing hard

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Their days might be crammed with deadlines and schedules, targets and goals, but their hearts beat for the fun and spirit of a good game.
Many young professionals in the city are reworking their schedules to make room for their passion, and are forming sporting clubs with likeminded folk. So, on weekends and holidays, the suits and ties are tossed away, and the boys live it up — getting sweaty and dirty on the field, and having an absolute ball.
Gagan Gupta, a young businessman, had been playing cricket for past 8-9 years before he and his die-hard cricket-crazy friends decided to take their love for the game to a different level. “About six months back we formed a cricket club of our own called West Delhi Warriors Cricket Club. Now it’s all the more fun to tie up with other clubs and play,” says Gagan.
In a country where cricket is said to be a religion and has tremendous fan-following, there are also fans of football, hockey and tennis.
Sandeep Barwa, who is a member of Khrist Jyoti Church Football Club, insists that there are many amateur football lovers who only need a right platform to show their skills in the game.
“We started on a casual level. With just `20 per member fee we manage our football and drink breaks. Our idea was to share our love for sport and spend some time together. We play frequently with another team Striker and with each match the standard and expectations increase. But then we moved on to having proper training sessions and games. Our members are so much in love with the sport that no matter what, they never miss any training or match,” says Sandeep.
These sports clubs might have been formed for fun. But when it comes to playing, they do not seem to take it easy. Keeping scores and selecting man of the match or series is a way to encourage players to put in their best in the game, says Arun Joshi, an IT professional and captain of Phoenix Cricket Team that has about 25 members now.
“When we watch a match, we always want the one who has performed best to be appreciated. Either at the end of the match, or sometimes we also arrange a separate prize distribution ceremony to appreciate and encourage good performances,” says Arun.
Manit Sharma, who works with an advertising firm, recently joined a Hockey club called Hockey Fans Club. “I always loved the sport but could not continue playing after school since there are hardly any platforms for hockey lovers. But then I came across this club and joined it without a second thought. We play as often as possible. While playing on weekends is a fixed fixture, we also play on gazetted holidays. Every Sunday, when we play, it’s like we are battling it out for our own world cup,” says Manit.