Volleyball is visa to women's independence & better career in Thadagam

In this Coimbatore village, volleyball opens door to independence, better career

On a Thursday morning, braving the blazing heat, several teenage girls in brightly coloured jerseys and shorts at the Government Girls High School in Thadagam jump up to defend a smash from the other side of the net.

A tall, reedy man in dark blue tracks and polo shirt effortlessly defends the hit and pummels the ball back. The girls don't hesitate to fall flat on their chest to block a smash. This village, 10km from Coimbatore, is the hub of volleyball in south India.
N Marudhayan, 70, who coaches the team, is credited with bringing women into the game that was until 12 years ago, a male bastion in Thadagam.

Dividing his time between this school and St Joseph's in Chennai, Marudhayan pins his hope on this region for finding talent. “I tend to spend a lot more time in Thadagam, because I believe that this is where I can get top-notch talent,“ he said. Two of his students, Vennila and Sumiya, represent the state at junior level. Sumiya, who completed Class 12, won the Best Attacker award in last year's national level tournament.

Not many people know that Thadagam and volleyball go back almost six decades. The story as some remember it began in the 1940s when a priest who joined the Bishop Walsh Memorial Church started teaching the game to some players like N Marudhayan and A Kanagaraj. “He began teaching the game to the boys who attended Sunday school, including my older brother,“ says Marudhayan. “Once the boys became inter ested in the game, he began organising tournaments,“ he said. Those small tournaments and first few players brought more youngsters into the ring and made Thadagam a hub of volleyball in south India.

Unlike a majority of parents who want their children to excel at academics, here every family dreams that their child does well in volleyball, the sport that provides youngsters a platform to pursue a career. “We have grown up learning that volleyball is as important as academics, because even if we are bad at academics, volleyball will give us a livelihood,“ says C Nishanth who selected at Southern Railways recently .

Children are introduced to volleyball in Class 6 or 7. In the absence of any support from the state government, the Thadagam Volleyball Club has taken up various activities since 1962.“We made the volleyball court in the Government Boys High School our quarters, fixed the lighting. Later we bought the court as we wanted it to be used only by those practising volleyball any time of the day ,“ says R Rajan, secretary of Thadagam Volleyball Club.

But it was not easy to get girls to take up the sport, “Around 12 years ago, girls came for practice in `pavadais (skirts).The idea of them wearing shorts was unthinkable,“ says Marudayan. “It took me three years to change their uniform,“ he said. “Today parents encourage their children and get them to practice on time because it means easier college admissions,“ he said.

Among the boys too, at least five of them -Dhanashekharan R, B Guna, C Nishanth, Senthil Shanmugam, J Saravana Kumar and J Karthikeyan -play for Tamil Nadu. None of these players could afford expensive coaches. Nishanth, 24, considered a star player, said he picked up a volleyball for the first time in Class 7. “I watched my seniors playing and tried out the same moves.

Slowly I started playing under the guidance of my sports coach in school and got better,“ he said.

For the last four decades, nearly 500 youngsters have got college admissions, scholarships and jobs through the sports quota. At present, four of the six players from the village -R Dhanashekharan, B Guna, C Nishanth and Senthil Shanmugam -have bagged government jobs at public sector institutions like Southern Railways, Tamil Nadu Police Force and income tax department.Though girls took to professional volleyball more recently, they too have managed to bag government jobs as physical trainers and educators in schools.

One of the first volleyball players from Thadagam to land a central government job in the early 1970s was S Kanagaraj. “I started playing in school and represented the district and university . I then got a job with the income tax department in 1975 and went on to play in the Indian team in 1976-77,“ says the retired veteran.

In Thadagam, the annual volleyball tournament is a bigger celebration than Diwali or Christmas. Earlier money to conduct the tournament would be collected from every household but now it is sponsored by local brick-kiln owners. “The teams are divided according to sponsors and they pay for kits,“ said Rajan. “It is like a street fair for a week,“ said Marudayan.“There is music, and revelry across the village,“ said Rajan.