The Whole story : What actually happened?

         Ever thought that the universe is somehow conspiring against you?  I have experienced this thought multiple times. Ever had a perfect situation just crumble and blast into a million pieces? It’s like you have a 3-0 lead in the first half  and then the opponent team comes at you like horde of bulls and suddenly your team is trailing 3-5 ( remember Tottenham vs Man U 2001/02 ) or you had a perfect match until you are sent off for a stupid reason. I had gone through a few moments like these during my college soccer life. The most vivid of these austere moments happened to me almost two years back during INTER IIT tournament in IIT Delhi.

          The past one month before the tournament had been one of the most grueling and tough days in IIT. The end semester exams were over and practice had started for the tournament. Miraculously I had got selected in the final 15 squad for the tournament. I had not been playing the best football in that semester, nevertheless my speed and stamina had indeed increased since my first year. I was playing for the center (stopper) back position for the team.  I had become somewhat good in that position mainly because of clearance. We played a couple of matches against Sangareddy FC (a local team near our IIT) and I did a decent job in both the matches. But I knew I still had tremendous room for improvement. The practice sessions before the tournament was grueling, we were practicing two times a day (almost five hours a day). We had to do so to have a decent chance in the tournament. The team had collectively improved and the senior players in the team were in exceptional form.  

          The winter cold climate was killing me (mainly because I never got used to the harsh chill weather as I was raised up in Tamil Nadu – one of the hottest places in India) . I thought this was bad, I had no clue what was waiting for me in Delhi.  So the practice sessions were over and we had begun the long journey to New Delhi. We did not get any practice session slots in the tournament due to late registration. So our only choice was to practice as early as 6 in the morning or as late as 9 in the night as the ground were free only at that time. This was my first time in the INTER IIT tournament and so I was a little intimidated by the teams by seeing their practice session. Our first match was against Kanpur, this team beat us 4-0 in the first INTER IIT tournament.  So we watched (more like spying) their practice sessions as well to understand their level of play. Their fitness coefficient was really high compared to ours. But our coach still had high hopes for our team; according to him we had a slightly better team than all the teams in the tournament. The first match in our group was IIT Kanpur vs IIT Guwahati and IIT Guwahati won 1-0. Skill by Skill Guwahati had a slight edge over Kanpur. Our first match was against Kanpur.

          So the match had arrived, I had been waiting for this day for a long time. We went to the ground an hour earlier and began the warm up. I was not brimming with confidence and hence was benched for the first half. The next half hour was a total demolition of our team by Kanpur. We were down 3-0 in the first half and all that damage was done by a single guy named Hakeeb. He literally ran through our defense and scored a Hat –trick. During the half time, our coach gave a blood boiling speech (we called it a “fire speech”) that pumped the whole team. But even that was not enough as the whole team was drained out physically and emotionally by then and we once again found the ball in our nets one more time. But still everyone was trying their level best to do well.

The next moment the coach screamed at me “ASWIN, take off your sweatshirt and start warming up”. After five minutes I was substituted as a Stopper back. So here I was in the first biggest match of my career and I could literally feel my heart thumping in my chest, I was still pumped because of the “fire speech” our coach gave during half time. We got a throw in and this was the first time I got the ball and I cleared it into their half. Ten minutes had gone by, we were attacking with all our might to get that all elusive goal and then disaster struck! – A single moment of insanity was all it was. The ball was in their D-line and all the focus was on it, I was near the half line circle and was ready for the counter attack. Then the other center back (my senior) told me to go near the striker and block his lines. So I went running (remember I was still pretty pumped up) and then I suddenly slipped and collided with the striker .He fell face first on the ground, but somehow I was still on my feet.

He started appealing for a foul, but the referee did not see it (not even the lines referee). The opponent striker seeing that know body saw the foul was frustrated and started advancing towards me to attack me. He tried to catch my shirt and throw a punch, but couldn’t do it. Then my teammates started advancing towards that guy in fury. My coach suddenly noticed this and informed the side referee that I was being attacked by opponent.  The main ref got a wind of the situation after getting info from the linesman. He called both " number 6 " (we both had number 6 jersey) towards him. He showed a red card to him and for a second I thought I got away with all this and he showed it to me too. I couldn’t believe it, three semesters of hard work and perseverance all ended due to moment of madness! I thought I had somehow got out of it and then in a blink of an eye I was back in the bench in utter dismay. All hope shattered – I thought of not playing football the rest of my life. But the coach was not angry on me, on the contrary he was pleased as I didn't show any fear at least. The final whistle blew and all my teammates ran towards me and started praising me, I was little confused – I knew I somehow got the other player out of the game but that was not a reason to celebrate. Then they told me the guy who got the red card along with me , the number 6 guy was none other than the star striker of the tournament, the guy who destroyed our team in the first half – Hakeeb !!.

Football ~ my soul -- a blog by Aswinreva 

Football Adrenaline Rush

                       I just came back from a soccer match with a local team from Kerala. It was a fairly easy game for us, beating the visitors 5-0. I too scored a goal; it was my second goal in my whole college career. It has been 3 years since my first match that I played with my team. I came a long way from being a rookie with nothing but pure power in the legs to a play maker with proper skills and judgment navigating the whole team. I played in almost all the positions for my team through the years ( stopper , center defense , right/left wing back , right/left mid field , center mid/play maker... you get the point ) except the goalie position , if I get a chance I will play in that position too. 

              Today I was playing at center midfield for my team. It was a bit difficult at first because it was a relatively new position for me and i was not quite used to dribble a lot and hence this was not a cakewalk for me. But, I definitely could sense that my skills and judgment improving match after match. The main reason was the proper feedback and encouraging criticism of my coach - Akbar sir ( The matches i played in Purdue also helped a little bit ). This was the fourth match we played in this semester .One could say that we are in kind of a winning spree as we won the previous matches 2-0 ,6-0,5-1 . Today's match was not supposed to be an easy one but the visitors had petite stamina and hence it turned out to be a cake walk for us. We pushed the visitors right from the kick off (which was at 6:30 AM!!! – damn too early) and the ball found my right foot at the 6^th minute. There was about 20 yards distance between me and the goal. I thought I could take a chance at the goal, so I nudged the ball a little forward just enough to give me proper space to take a decent swish at the ball. I suddenly realized that there were three huge defenders charging towards me, so I had very little time. I managed to kick the ball with just enough power and just enough swerve away from the goal keeper.

The next thing I know the ball was in the net and I was ecstatic, I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my blood vessels and was shouting at the top of my voice and hugged my teammates. As I mentioned before, this was my second goal in my whole college career for my team- IITH FC, so I was really euphoric after scoring the goal. From then on we dictating the terms for the entire match, our defense were seldom tested and our goalie just got the ball twice during the whole match. The ball found the net another four times before the final whistle was blown. I then realized that I could never live without playing football. I totally could get why many players in the professional arena return back the football world in their 40s and 50s as coaches, trainers and managers. A true football fan can never leave football once he /she started playing the beautiful game. The adrenaline rush that one gets after scoring a goal, after a successful tackle, after a beautiful assist or a perfect cross is unmatched and cannot be got in any other moments in life.

Football ~ My soul ------- A blog by Aswin Reva

PS: I keep using soccer as well as football in my blog because to me the name of the game doesn’t matter, it’s the game itself that should be respected and cherished.

          

Joga Bonito - The Beautiful Game

 Football - The game that changed my life, the motivation for what i am today. Its my constant source of inspiration everyday. I dare not , to think what my life would turn out to be if i had not chose to step onto the football field on my first day in college. In school i was always ridiculed for being fat and slow which turned me into a nerd (not that i regret or anything but i hoped to be athletic too ) and made me play occasionally . In fact i had a bigger problem within me which was killing me slowly- I had asthma. No matter what medication i tried it just got severe and more problematic and being fat didn't help either. So getting onto the football field was on the first day was a huge step in my life towards a better health, a better character and a good happy term in college .

                          .
                       It was my first day in college and after the boring intros and meeting new people i decided i have to be on the Football team . So i went to the institute and was looking around for the football field and then i heard some rabble near the rear side of the institute. I asked a person about what all that commotion is all about and then he replied they were playing Football on that side of the grounds. Then i quickly went there to take a look and as soon as i reached the near the goalpost something just zoomed past my ears and i was stunned for a minute. Some guy called Carlos (the guy looked like hulk ! ) had kicked the ball and if it had hit my face at that mind blowing speed it would have broken my nose and i certainly would be knocked unconscious. The teams were already selected and they were playing 11 on 11 . I thought since it was an IIT and all i would have easy time getting into the team and man i was wrong.
                      I waited for my turn and hoped somebody would sub me in for their place, but every time somebody came out, immediately they picked another guy who was slimmer and hoped he would play well. It was like i was invisible to the captain's eyes. Finally my turn came, a senior came out because he got a phone call ( phew! ). The captain saw me and immediately made me play as the center back - Stopper . My heart beat was raising , i could feel it thumping in my chest , i was determined to show them i could play well. After some 5 minutes on the field finally i got a chance to kick the ball, the striker from the opposite team was dribbling the ball towards me and since i was the last man all my teammates were hoping on me to stop the ball , and i did it! . I just put my leg towards the ball and he tripped and the ball was up for clearance. Now the on thing i am good at is i got power, infact at that time i had more power in my legs than most guys in the college team. So i gave it a go and gathered all my power and kicked the ball as hard as i can and BOOM!! The ball went about 60 meters and everyone was stunned and then i was happy with myself. I knew then it will be one hell of a ride form then on.
                                 ~Football~My soul~ A blog by Aswin Reva .