How a grassroots sports league brought together people from all works of Life- The BVL story
Why we need an alternate platform:
Ever since Akash was 10
years old, he dreamt of becoming a volleyball player. He used to practice with
his elders but their village team hardly gets an opportunity to play in
tournaments. Only when Akash became 15 years old he for the first time got selected
to represent the district team in the sub-Junior inter district championship. But
unfortunately his district team lost both the matches. Despite, being a
talented player Akash did not get noticed. After 5 years of toiling with
the ball and fantasizing of wearing the state jersey he got only two
chances to prove his potential. Slowly he lost interest in the game and got
attracted in other teenage amusements. Like Akash, there were hundreds of other
players who left sports because of lack of a platform to display their talent.
For all those children
who are good in academics, school provide a platform to take care of their
intellectual pursuit but what about other children who are gifted with physical
qualities.
How the platform should be:
The name of the platform should have both local and global appeal, the young children from the remotest village should get an opportunity to display their talent and community should collectively own responsibility. These were the three foundation on which it was decided to design a league for the future volleyball players of Assam.
How it all started:
Almost a year ago in Sept 2019, former volleyball players of Assam came together and started Assam Volleyball Mission 100, an initiative to support the children playing volleyball in interior villages. Within six months, 56 rural centers where adopted, volleyballs and kits were provided and also train the trainer program was organized to polish the coaching skills of former players. As the Mission was getting momentum, Covid-19 spiked the motivation of our future spikers. Everything came to a standstill, we tried all possible ways including whattsapp video to make connection with the players but nothing worked out.
As we were thinking of ways to engage the
children during the Covid-19 lockdown, I recalled a year ago my cousin sister Dr Archana Bhattacharya who
works with the tea community children invited me to teach volleyball to their
children. I developed a module through which basic volleyball could be thought
to the children online who have never touched a volleyball in their life. The
challenge was huge, as the center coordinators Praveen Munda, Shayam Guwala and
Babita from Monumoi, Diha and Rajoi Tea garden had never touched volleyball in
their life. The internet connectivity in their mobile was chaotic. But, we overcome
these challenges by making use of the available resources. Prepared balls from
cloth, trained inside school classroom when it rains, conducted special classes
for the coordinator, made short whatapp videos for next day training schedule
in advance. Within one month we organized the first online individual underhand
volleyball competition among these tea estate children. Knowing of our
initiates to engage the tea garden children through online volleyball during
Covid-19 lockdown, The Indian Express newspaper highlighted our effort. https://indianexpress.com/article/north-east-india/assam/former-indian-volleyball-captain-is-taking-the-sport-online-6563833/
This idea led to a state level online
volleyball underhand competition for under 12 boys and girls in September 2020
when the Covid-19 pandemic at peak. This initiative went on to attract the attention of all
sports lovers across the nation. Dhanjit, a young boy from Dharamtala coaching center
came first by performing more than 17000 non-stop underhand continuously for
three hours. Abhijit Bhumis of Monumoi
Tea estate who touched the volleyball only a couple of months ago won the
bronze medal. This gave the much need momentum to Assam Volleyball Mission-100.
Now, we need a platform for hundreds of other children above 12 age group
category.
The Platform is “Brahmaputra Volleyball League”
The blueprint of the League was prepared keeping
in mind players like Akash but we were not in a position to prepare a budget
for this league (Had we thought of budget we could not have given life to
this ambitions grassroots league). The league matches were to be organized in
home and away format, exclusively for under 16 age group children. 4 village
teams within 100km radius will be in one group. Through this format each team
will get an opportunity to play minimum 6 matches, three matches in their home
ground and three matches in three different villages. Every player
participating in the Brahmaputra league will get an exposer to visit minimum 3
new village. The guest team will arrive in the afternoon and the home team
villagers will welcome the Away team as their guest. Host village shall prepare food, ground and both the team
will have lunch together. 12 matches will be played in each group. The top team
from each group will qualify to the 2nd round where matches will be organized at a neutral venue. The 4 best teams in both
boys and girls category to play in the super
league at a central venue. The format was kept 4 vs 4, to allow children to
play freely without much rules, there
will be free movement and villages having less number of players will also able
to participate. The prize money was decided to be minimum Rs 50,000/- for the
winners.
With this format ready on papers and without
any budget we called for an online zoom meeting of all our members and center
in-charges. The only message we gave was, “we cannot uplift popular sports
like cricket, tennis, golf by donating 1kg rice, 1 kg dal or 1lt mustard oil
but we have an opportunity to uplift the game we all love, by contributing even
few bananas”. All our center in-charge who were voluntarily imparting
coaching in their respectively villages unanimously agreed to support the
league in all possible way and decided to host their home matches with their
own resources. Mrs Sabita Barman, NIS coach with state govt. upon knowing about
the initiative expressed her willingness to donate the first prize for Boys i.e
Rs 50,000/-. My Sainik School friend Sailesh Sharma later called to donate the
girls 2nd prize i.e Rs 30,000/- and another school friend Yogesh
Maheswari committed to donate the girls first prize which was again Rs
50,000/-. All these initial commitment coming from known people, gave a huge
boost to BVL.
33 boys’ team and 17 girls submitted their
entry. These teams were divided in different groups and zones depending upon
their geographical location. Schedules were finalized and matches were to be
played only on weekends and holidays. Total 144 matches were to be played over
a period of 2 and half months in 35 different villages but we still did not have
a single penny of funding. 144 matches means close to 144 community meals and
preparations of 35 grounds, which itself would have cost lakhs of rupees. But
with villagers coming forward to donate, dal, rice, fish, and vegetable the
first challenge was resolved.
Now, there was a travelling cost towards teams’
movement. Few of the teams were ready to manage the transportation cost but few
others who may not be able to arrange. We were also wondering if we can give one
playing kit to all the players. At that point of time by Brother In-Law Rahul
and his wife Poonam came to visit us in our Delhi house. Couple of days earlier
Poonam contributed Rs5000/- for supporting the volleyball players of Assam from
her salary. Instantly an idea came into my mind and I asked them “Will you be
interested in adopting a team of BVL by donating few thousands more”, they
instantly agreed by saying “Oh, you mean Jiju we too can be like Ambani’s”.
Next day I prepared an open letter, explaining
about our league and how we are going ahead without any budget and if anyone
wish to adopt one team, may do so my contributing Rs 15,000/-. The amount will
cover the cost towards the playing kit as well as the transportation. The idea
initially was to adopt those teams which required maximum support. I shared the
open letter in a sports whatapp group of Assam started by renowned former cricketer
Rajesh Bora da. In the evening I received a msg from Krishna Hazarika Rao,
former International Badminton player expressing her willingness to support a
team. She and her badminton partner Asawari Parmar came forward to support the Upper
Majuli team. That was the first positive response we received from someone who
are not volleyball players.
As Krishna ba shared the news of supporting a
grassroot volleyball league, former international Table Tennis Player Madalasa
Hazarika came forward to support one more team. Next it was Olympian, Arjuna
Awardee and Nine time national champion Aparna Popat who too expressed her willingness
to adopt a team followed by Monasila Baruah Mehta our very own Arjuna Awardee
from Assam. This was a huge motivation for us and also acceptance of our league
at the national level.
Two days later I got a call from Sonney Rao da, a diehard Tezpurian and an Alumina of Tezpur University MBA Alumina Association (TUMBA), confirming of support for two teams Barbari and Bapuji on behalf of TUMBA. Devabrata Chakravarty of TUMBA who is also associated with Assam Association Mumbai and Shankardev Academy 96 Batch coordinated for two more teams, Na Kachari and Bahbari. Slowly one after another noble soul like Pranab Sandilya, Principal of Guwahati College, Kalyan Das, former Tennis player, Chitra Dhar Deka, social worker from Rangia, Dr Mausami Baruah, Madhurya Baruah from AG Associates, Priya Kannan ( Former Volleyball player from Maharashtra , now settled in US), Bidyoot of AEC 2000 batch, Ruchita Sharma, former international badminton player, Ashish Baradwaj, Sports broadcaster, Manoj Kumar Thakur, former international volleyball player, Amir Singh Arjuna Awardee in Volleyball came forward to adopt the village team from remote corners. My Sister In-Law Poonam and her Sister Sonal adopted two teams along with their husband Rahul Sharma and Varun Roy.
My Sainik School Goalpara 1989 batch mates who
were witness to all these development from the beginning committed to support 3
teams. SATIRTHA 1987- the batch of 87 from Sivasagar Govt. boys Higher
Secondary School came forward so does the batch of 2000 from Assam Engineering
College, Guwahati and Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters. My cousins Nilootpal
Sharma who is based in Singpore upon knowing about adoption of team called to reconfirm,
if the adoption fee is Rs 15,000 or Rs 15 Lakhs! the Singapore Assamese
Volleyball Fans supported one team. One
of the tea garden team was supported by UK based Dr Suman Sarma, daughter of
Archana Bhattacharya. At the last moment Rituraj called and informed that Jayanta Madhab, Managing Trustee Care Luit
expressed willingness to support the Bessimari team. One by one we managed to
find sponsor for all except for one team i.e
Kardoiguri. We decided to name the team on behalf of all mother’s from
across the globe who contributed Rs100/- each to support this team.
Barbari village took the responsibility of
hosting the inaugural match of BVL2020 on 12th Nov 2020. TUMBA team was
consistently supporting us from the behind and they came forward to help us in
the social media marketing of BVL. Nandini Sen Sarma and her team members from TUMBA
designed a logo for the league. We decided to organize an online unveiling event
of the logo. As the logo reflects a female player hitting the balls across the
Brahmaputra valley, we requested Hima Das through her coach Nipom da. As Hima
unveiled the logo, the league got the much-needed push in the social media.
As we were nearing the inaugural function, Dr Pranab Sandilya sir, owner of Niz-Pokuwa team enquired if we have written or composed any theme song for BVL. When I replied in negative, he said he will try to compose one for us. All of a sudden one evening I received a whatapp msg from Dr Pranab sir with a hand written song, which instantly touched my heart. I forwarded the lyrics to TUMBA team asking them if we can find a singer, composer and a musician who can make a complete song for us free of cost as we do not have budget . Devabrata from TUMA team, as we lovingly call him Rose, immediately forwarded the lyrics to one of his singer friend Keshab Baruah who was already sitting with his Guitar in one of his friends place. Keshab gave an instant tune to those magical words of Pranab sir.
As all these were happening, the Jagiroad team
pulled out from the league stating some internal problem. Though it was
effecting the league format we decided to go ahead. But, suddenly few days
before the starting of the league Jitu Bordoloi ( EX -SSGian) who also happen
to be Secretary of Morigaon Sports Association called me to ask if his team can
join. Within a day all formalities were completed and Morigaon team was given
entry at the last minute. His school volleyball team batch mate Indranil Gogoi
came as a sponsor of the team in name of Alohi Resturant Bangalore.
With sponsors for almost all the teams
confirmed, a kit manufacturer was approached in Jalandhar. The jersey sizes of
all the players came to my whatsapp number. I converted all those 500 sizes of
players into an excel sheet and gave unique codes to different jersey design
for different teams. Remember we do not have a back office to work this out for
us. Just 10 days before the inaugural match the Jalandhar manufacture pulled
out stating farmer’s agitation and transportation problem. Overnight my wife Priyanka identified a new distributor from Meerut and not only convinced him to take up the challenge but
also got the best price for us. With the Delhi Border sealed, because of Farmers
agitation it was looking impossible to get the kits delivered on time. If the
inaugural matches starts without proper uniform, it may dampen the faith of the
players, organizers, and the sponsors. With no other option remaining I reached
Gaziabad border at mid-night and from the other side the kit manufacture came on
a bike to deliver me the first lot of Jersey by hand at 1AM. Next morning I
boarded the 6.20 Indigo flight from Delhi to Guwahati.
The night before the inaugural match we received a full-fledged version of the theme song of BVL2020. As the teams lined up wearing the New Jersey and theme song was played for the first time, I experienced goose bump watching these from behind. We all felt great as for the first time a theme song has been dedicated for the game of Volleyball. Today, the theme song has become a Jio Ring tune, thanks to Nipom from TUMBA team. The guest were served pitta, coconut ladu and all Assamese traditional dishes prepared by the women folk of the village. The community lunch on the first day prepared by the local villagers was served to more than 500 guest. As we returned after thanking the organizers of Barbari we knew we succeeded in taking the first step. But 142 more matches were left to be organized during the next two months without a proper organizing committee office.
From
the next weekend onwards all the teams started travelling from one village to
another to play matches. Every Sunday we started receiving pics of 400 plus children
playing matches in different villages on our whatapp group, photographs of community cooking, people donating
vegetables, preparing ground, installing tents, travelling by bus, children
wearing new kits, score sheet of matches and many more. Regular videos of BVL
were made by TUMBA team for social media. Besides the pics, there were numerous challenges
and hindrance which we collectively managed to address. The entire BVL was like
one big family who wanted their children to play and remain happy. None of the
referee took any fee to conduct the matches.
One morning I woke up to receive a WhatsApp photograph
from Diha tea garden. It was a pic of Munda and his teammates wearing warm
cloth, mufflers tied across their head carrying a volleyball, on the way to
play their first away match at Na-Kachari village. My eyes instantly filled
with tears. Somehow, I felt probably we were able to contribute something back to
our community. 90% of the children who participated in BVL went out of their
village to play a match wearing a personal jersey for the first time in their
life.
As the league was getting very demanding to manage and we were feeling exhausted BVL stories published in The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Sentinel, dailyhunt, Dainik Asom, Protidin Time, Khabor, G Plus and many other leading newspaper of Assam gave us the much need boost to move ahead. DD Assam and Prag News too dedicated one complete episode to our BVL.
https://thenewsmill.com/brahmaputra-volleyball-league-unearth-talents/
https://thebridge.in/volleyball/volleyball-league-assam-guiding-deprived-youth-mainstream/
https://bhartiyanews24x7.com/2020/12/20/assams-silent-revolution-to-revive-volleyball/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKrq_T6fNAg
After two months of non-stop Volleyball in 35 villages, the focus was on Hazarikapara, one of the epicenter of Assam volleyball who volunteered to host the Super league. Chandra Sharma, Jayanta Sharma, Pallab, Sanjeeb and their team from the tiny village of Hazarikapara near Sipajhar made sure that the super League of BVL was organized in a befitting manner. From the ground to food everything was arranged as if it was a national championship.
Keshab flew down from Mumbai to sing the
anthem song live before the start of the final match of BVL. It was an enchanting atmosphere with thousands
of people turning up to witness the final match and clapping to the tune of “Brahmaputra
Volleyball …Brahmaputra Volleyball…”. The six trophies were lined up, which
were collectively donated by Bhupen Choudhary and Ranjit Deka. The prize money
for the remaining three prizes could only be finalized on the last day. Ranjit
Deka contributed for boy’s third prize, Aparna Bhattacharya (My Mother) gave for
the Boys second prize and ONGC
Volleyball for donated for girl’s third
prize. Amba Patgiri baidew donated all the 60 medals and Jalti da donated the mementos.
Everyone who have witness the final match be it Chief Guest Prasanta Borkatoty ED Oil India Duliajan, Dharma Narayan Das, Subodh Malla Barauh, Rajib Praksh Baruah, Kalyan Das, Rita Banerjee, Pratibhu Dutta, Amitabh, Bharat Bhattacharjee, Ashim Bhuyan, Asomee Dutta Baruah, Abhijit, Nipom, Sonny Rao, Krishna Hazarika Rao, Madalasa Hazarika, Madhurya Baruah, Sailesh Sharma have carried with them life long memories of that Valentine's day evening.
As the trophies were given away to the winners
one elderly person came to me and said “Do you know, what the best message you
all have conveyed through this league”, when he saw me confused, he said “You
guys decided on a feminine logo for BVL and at the same time gave the bigger trophy to
the girls winners. In my life I have never seen the girls champion trophy
bigger than the boys champion trophy”. I felt good knowing that people noticed
the message we tried to convey.
From Baharul Islam da of Dhing village who donated vegetables for the league to Olympian Aparna Popat, who adopted a team, Brahmaputra Volleyball League has brought together people from all works of life.
All these have become possible only because of an extraordinary team effort exhibited by the members of Assam Volleyball Mission 100. Without their unselfish effort this would not have been possible. The strongest pillar of this BVL was the centre In-charge of the 50 teams who participated in this league.
My special compliments to each and every person who have given their sweat and time to make this league a success.
Thankfully by grace of God, first edition of BVL concluded on a happy note.
The whole story summedup as an exciting journey.
ReplyDeletethank you so much sir
DeleteCheers!
ReplyDeleteHappy to ba a little part of this revolution.
Thank You for letting us be.
That's great feelings to be part of such League spread across both sides of mighty River Brahmaputra.. I wish this BVL a long live and will be happy to be part of this again and again..
ReplyDeleteOrganising members need a big applaud...
Regards
Indranil Gogoi
You blog is very good . Thank you.
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