3 minute read
RECALL
from Durand Cup
by Bisal004
Maj (Retd) Viswanath Madhav Rajan is 40th NDA course and currently based in Bangalore
Playing ball
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The Bridge course was actually a big curse. It is no fun to start running 10 km at 5 pm even before the sun has set and then to come back and play football for another 90 minutes. But Mr Pendred, our football coach (Football Blue from Oxford University, and also our English teacher ) was adamant, “you have got to build up endurance and stamina if you want to be a football player”.
In one of these runs I was following NJ Nair of 38th NDA Course … after a kilometer, I looked down to avoid stepping on a frog (we ran along a stream next to paddy fields). By the time I looked up NJ was no longer there and I was seeing the back of Joseph George and still ahead...Pendred. As we reached back to the school football grounds, I once again saw NJ in front of me. I had known him for an academic genious, winning the best student trophy(a huge brass nilavilakku - a peacock lamp) year after year. But this latest trick of vanishing and reappearing fascinated me.
On one of these bridge course runs, Pendred was in front, pushing himself hard with only him in front of me. As we neared the football ground I told myself, can I kick in for a final push to first position? I saw myself overtaking and finishing first, my name on the Notice Board looked good. That was the beginning of my stints in the school football team. For years Malayalees believed that the football looked best when it was far up in the sky and anyone who could kick the ball the highest was a terrific footballer.
Then came Pendred and completely changed our notions of good football..anyone kicking the ball high into the air would be sent on a punishment run of two rounds of the football field. A week of this new brand of football and the footballing kazhaks (cadets of the Sainik School Kazhakootam) started playing the ground level passing game, the Brazilians play minus of course their flair. It was a good start. Suresh Bhaskar’s sharp ground pass used to reach his uncle Harindran’s feet .. one tackle to befuddle a defender and in the next step, he used to send the ball curling towards the net. Col Somaiah, our Principal’s elder son became an exponent of precision ground passing in the “D”- a selfless act.
We crushed the pretensions of Kaniyapuram high school in their own grounds when Gopalakrishna Pillay beat their goal keeper like the German, Klose. But we were put into our place in the hierarchy by the Kerala State Team. They crashed the ball into our nets from outside the D, beating G.R Mohan hands up and legs down.
I took Pendred’s lessons to the Army...never lost a football match I captained whether playing for the Battalion, Brigade, Division or Northern Command. George Best from England, Platini from France and Johan Cruyff of Holland provided inspiration from across the seas.
I took my football team to a morning 10 km run to build stamina and endurance, as my teacher Mr Pendred had instructed. We did push ups, sit ups, and rope to strengthen our upper torso, and I coached the team meticulously, in every art of footballing skills like dribbling, tackling, heading, passing, creating spaces, running into open spaces, defending fiercely, corner kicks, penalty kicks
I made a chart that is displayed on the following page and stuck to it like glue .. resulting in victory after victory.
Period Activities
First week
Running upto 3 kilometers progressively Basic ball control, running with the ball , passing , kicking, heading Sprinting practice
Second Week
Running up to 5 kilometers progressively
Dribbling ,tackling, shooting at goal,heading,taking corners
