For a student to shine, it is important that his guru gives the right teaching and training. MUSBA HASHMI catches up with sports coaches to tell you how, for a top athlete, the bond shared with the coach has to be strong & based on trust

Mantra: Be a good human & play well

Coach: N Ramesh

Student: Dutee Chand

Hailing from a below poverty line family in Jajpur district of Odisha, a 22-year-old girl, made India proud when she became the third Indian woman ever to qualify for the Women’s 100m event at the Summer Olympic Games.

Meet this guru-shishya jodi which has stuck together through thick and thin — sprinter  Dutee Chand and her coach N Ramesh. Ramesh, an athlete himself who participated at the national junior level and started coaching in 1992 after walking away with a diploma in coaching athletics, has been coaching Chand since 2012, when she was just 17. Both have enjoyed the journey much more than the goal.

Ramesh tells you that guru and shishya have different angles to their relationship.

“The guru is a guide, philosopher, friend and father figure. It all depends on the situation. Sometimes when training is hard, I have to be harsh, when training is easy I am a jolly good fellow. I have to play so many roles for her. On the field, I am very strict but off the field I am jovial. Maintaining a balance is a must,” he explains.

The fact that Chand is an amazing human being, has an innocence to her, is always helping others, takes life in a positive way, is down-to-Earth and has a spirit of doing something for the society and nation is what makes her such a good athlete, he explains.

“The quality which I like in her the most is that she is always willing to help others. She  stands by people she believes in. When it comes to practice, she is hardworking and never gives up whether it is about training or competition. If she has taken up something she will carry it through. She always performs better at national competitions as compared to training shoots and even better at international competitions,” Ramesh tells you.

For him, the biggest challenge is to live up to the expectations of people. “There are a lot of expectations from us, 1.3 billion people’s happiness depends on us, the country's pride rests on our shoulders. It is a challenge to keep all these things in mind and train your students to give their best.

“Training students to be world class athletes is an everyday challenge. Sport is itself a challenge and that is why it needs coaching. You cannot sit on yesteryear laurels. You have to prove yourself every day and to train students for the same is a tough task,” he says.

His training sessions start at 6:30 am. Sometimes I take mid sessions also for Chand from 11 am to 12 noon. At At 4:30 pm, the students are back on the ground for another two hours of gruelling training.

His training strategy is simple.

“All my students have to be a good human beings, the rest will follow. I advice them to follow good habits and that will take care of everything else. My only expectation from the students is that they all be patient and help others in any way that they can,” Ramesh says.

‘Sport is a tool to learn life skills'

Coach: Deepali Deshpande

Student: Anjum Moudgil

An avid abstract painter who made headlines by clinching a Silver medal at the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) event at the ISSF World Cup in Mexico is 24-year-old shooter Anjum Moudgil who has been coached by Deepali Deshpande.

Deshpande, a shooter herself is at present, the chief coach of National Junior Rifle team. Her journey as a coach began two years back before she took up her present place.

“I started coaching just two years back with the junior national squad. My shooters and I, both are learning at the same time. It is a two-way process. Junior shooters at that time were struggling due to lack of basic technical guidance and support. They were knowledge hungry and I was more than willing to share whatever I knew about the sport. This led to an instant connect,” Deshpande shares.

Her relationship with her students is not just a professional one but something beyond that. “I grew up with them. So our relationship is far beyond professional. If you want people to follow your ways you must win their trust. My interaction with my shooters was never restricted to the shooting range or camps and competition. On the first day, I told myself to keep my ego in check as I was dealing with teenagers. I worked on them patiently and it paid off,” she says and adds that she is not a very strict coach.

The reason bring that her students are kids and they must be given some liberties so that they don’t miss out on a childhood. This doesn’t mean that Deshpande lets them run wild. “Basic discipline and training systems are very important for working together,” she tells you.

“I make sure that all my instructions are followed to a T at all the times whether it is coaching camps and or competitions. Honesty, hard work and to be cordial with the team members can't be compromised,” she says.

The challenge that she faces as a coach is the different background and different upbringing of her shishyas. “In such a scenario, is very challenging to keep them together and make them follow a uniform system. Each shooter comes with an individual personality. To understand them and find individual solutions to their problems is challenging. But that is what makes this job an interesting one,” Deshpande says.

Interestingly, while Deshpande may not a strict coach, she is a stickler for punctual and has a fixed timetable. “I make my students follow a fixed routine. All of them have to be punctual. Our day starts at 5.30 am with yoga and ends at 7 pm with physical training. In between they practice at shooting ranges. The intensity of training depends on the type of camp and competition they are preparing for. I also teach my students some basic rules that they should keep in mind while practice sessions. Rifle shooting is a technical sport. Everything works on logic. We try to inculcate to think logically instead of motivating them emotionally. Emotional motivation only makes shooter feel good temporarily but doesn't work in the long run,” she says.

To have a student like Anjum is overwhelming for Deshpande because her student is extremely hardworking.

“Anjum is an intelligent shooter. She is focused and her mind works on a single track. She doesn’t get into too much detail and analysis. That makes her a perfect performer. She leaves the analysis to me. Her complete trust in me makes things easier for the both of us. Only a very confident person can have such kind of faith in other individual,” she says.

This means that this coach has high hopes and expectations from the students. “I expect all my students to bring glory to our country through sports. Sport is a tool to learn lifeskills. I hope that whatever they learnt from me helps them to lead a successful and meaningful life.”

Father figure and coach

Coach: Bisweshwar Nandi

Student: Dipa Karmakar

A 25-year-old Indian gymnast rose above the set societal barrier that girls should not take part in sports. She became the first Indian gymnast to bag a Bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Moscow. Her feat made people take notice of this guru-shishya jodi —  Dipa Karamakar and coach Bisweshwar Nandi. So much so that in 2016 he was awarded the Dronacharya Award for his phenomenal training while Karmakar was honoured with the nation’s highest sporting honour, the Khel Ratna in the same year.

Though, Karmakar was not able to perform to the best of her abilities at Jakarta due to an injury niggle, Nandi believes in her and has high expectations from her for upcoming events.

He started his journey as a gymnast himself. He is a five-time National Champion. However, he tells you that as a coach, his journey has not been all that easy. Initially, he used to be made fun of for training a girl to be a gymnast.

“When I started training Dipa, people used to taunt me and insult me. ‘Why are you training a girl in a sport where nothing good is going to happen’? were common remarks that I took in my stride. But I was determined to not give up and now all the hard work has paid off. I saw a potential in Dipa long back and she has proved me right. She lives up to my expectations,” Nandi says proudly.

Unlike Nandi’s coaches who would resort to corporal punishment if he didn’t do well in the practice sessions, Nandi has never resorted to such severe methods to train his students.

 “In our time, our coaches use to cane us for not doing well at the practice sessions but now things are not the same anymore. If I will cane my students then no parent would send his or her child to me for training. The secret of my training is that I attack a student’s psychology. This is what I used to train Dipa. I would reprimand her in a manner that would motivate her to push herself even harder and to do well. The words that I would use would make her aggressive and bring out the best in her,” he tells you.

While the guru and the shishya share a close bond, Nandi ensures that his relationship is disciplined.

“Dipa came to me when she was just seven years old. The journey has had its ups and downs.

Dipa is ambitious. She is also obedient, disciplined, listens to my instructions carefully and follows

my advice. I am a father figure to her during the training sessions and yet I am a very strict coach. When it comes to training there is no softness,” he tells you.

‘Challenge is to motivate students'

Coach: Rajvir Singh

Student: santosh

After giving the best-ever performance in the 2018 Asian Games, Indian Wushu players settled for four Bronze medals. This would have not been possible without the guidance of their unassuming coach Rajvir Singh. We have all grown up listening to guru-shishya stories but to find such inspiring tales in today’s times is rare.

Meet coach Rajvir Singh and you call tell how proud and happy he is after seeing his player’s performances in Asian Games.

Talking about his journey, Singh said: “My journey has been wonderful. I went to the World Championships as the national champion. I started my coaching career in 2004 and it has been a wonderful experience thus far. I always wanted to take this sport ahead and try to give it the exposure it deserves. Wushu is the mother of martial arts and India stands fourth in this game after China, Japan and Indonesia.”

He shares a beautiful relationship with his students. “They are family to me. I am friends with all my students and they share all their problems with me. Santosh came to me for training when he was just 13 and Narendra when he was 17, so the bond is definitely stronger with them. It has been a long journey and all these players have improved a lot. I have a soft-corner for them as we spend a lot of time together but when I am on the field I have to be strict because Wushu is all about discipline. If I am not disciplined on the field, I cannot expect the same from my students,” Singh tells you.

He adds that the biggest challenge for a guru is to keep his students motivated. “The biggest challenge is to motivate students. Everyone has potential but the challenge is to encourage him or her to perform well despite setbacks. We have to show the positive side of the sport to students so that they make up their minds to take it up as a career option,” Singh asserts.

Singh is very particular about training. He believes the harder you train the better you will perform. “My training depends on the competition but I take two sessions — morning and evening on a daily basis. These are the compulsory sessions other than the ones that I take in the afternoons.

“Each session is of two-and-a-half hours. The afternoon sessions are to tone up players’ fitness. It can be

anything from yoga to gym or meditation. Sometimes, I just work on improving a player’s weakness. It is more of a correction session for  players where they can work on themselves,” he explains.

That his students have done so well and want to learn new things and techniques is what keeps Singh motivated too. “I am blessed to have got such students who want to learn new things and have a spark in them. Because of their enthusiasm and the high interest they show in training, I also enjoy my workouts with them. It can’t be one sided, hard work. Dedication and interest have to be a two-way channel to get the best results,” Singh says.