Assam’s silent revolution to revive volleyball

The brainchild of a former national captain, a volleyball league comprising 50 teams of boys and girls below 16 years is now underway across Assam.

It’s a Sunday but Anjan Saikia doesn’t have much spare time to talk. He’s busy making the final arrangements for the first match of the volleyball team he coaches in Majuli, the world’s biggest river island located in Assam.

A game underway at the Brahmaputra Volleyball League. (HT photo)

Upper Majuli, Saikia’s team of boys under 16 years, which is part of the ongoing Brahmaputra Volleyball League (BVL), are going to face a team from Monomoy tea estate in Jorhat and everyone in the region is excited.

“The game was to start at 11 am but as the ferry carrying the team to Majuli reached late, we are having a delayed start. We hope to start with a win. Next month we will visit them for an away game,” said Saikia.

“The league has reignited passion for volleyball in our area. A lot of new players are coming out and they are being encouraged by their parents. Other villagers are also involved in preparing the ground, ensuring proper hospitality of visiting team, etc,” he added.

Though only four of his wards are taking part in the league, Saikia is training 62 players at present. Upper Majuli is being sponsored by Krishna Hazarika Rao and Asawari Parmar, both international badminton players who represented the country in several competitions.

Saikia and Upper Majuli are not alone. At present, 50 teams, 33 of them boys and 17 girls, representing rural areas across Assam are taking part in the BVL, the brainchild of Abhijeet Bhattacharya, a former national volleyball captain.

After representing India at various levels for many years and leading the team, Bhattacharya joined Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and was looking for ways to give back to the game in some way when he visited a village in Thelamara close to his hometown Tezpur 12 years ago.

“At the village, we saw around 15 girls playing volleyball while the boys were sitting and watching. When asked, they said their volleyball has got damaged and they need to wait for few months to get a new one. I then decided to do something positive and lasting for volleyball,” he said.

Bhattacharya gave the boys a new ball and a net and started organising matches among teams in the area. He also got parents of the players and village elders involved. Soon, the matches became an anticipated activity where villagers came to watch and cheer the teams and cooked meals for all those gathered.

With partial funding from the ONGC and support of friends, a sports hostel was built between 2014 and 2018 at Beseria near Tezpur where the players could come and get trained. Bhattacharya also formed an organization called Rengoni Youth Sports Foundation.

A discussion with few former players led to start of the Assam Volleyball Mission 100 in September last year with the objective of providing 100 volleyballs to teams in need across Assam. This initiative connected Bhattacharya with 50 small teams across the state.

Soon, a three-week training programme under an Indian team coach was organised in Tezpur to upgrade the skills of coaches who were involved in these teams. For the first time, these coaches learnt proper techniques to improve fitness and volleyball skills of the players.

The next step was to create 100 players who can represent the state and the country and play the game professionally. But all plans took a backseat with Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the country.

“In order to keep players motivated, I developed a module to impart training to them online. It started with young players from three tea gardens. It soon turned into the Brahmaputra Volley League with the aim of making Assam one of the best volleyball teams in the country,” said Bhattacharya.

While normal teams have six players per side, it was decided to keep team size at four players with players going from one village to another to play games - a home and away format. The host village was asked to develop the play area and arrange food and stay for the visiting teams.

In order to provide for kit, uniform and travel costs of teams, the word was spread to look for sponsors who would spend at least ₹15,000 per team. This brought in people like former Indian national badminton champion Aparna Popat who adopted teams.

“I came to know about it from a couple of friends who were sponsoring teams. I got very excited as this is something which is being done in a planned manner in the grassroots. My team has lost its first two games, but the joy of children playing is worth it,” said Popat who sponsors Pub Nalbari.

“The idea of the league made us join immediately. I, along with friends from school and university, am involved in five teams. We are very positive that this initiative will change the volleyball scenario in Assam,” said Devabrata Chakravarty, joint secretary of Assam Association, Mumbai.

Soon, a logo was made and someone even wrote and composed a song for the league. The logo was unveiled by eminent athlete Hima Das earlier this month and the league started from December 12 with matches held on weekends so that players are able to return to their homes the same day. The league will end in February next year.

“One can start a volleyball team with as low as ₹2,000 - the cost for a good ball and the net. The small step taken by us has been warmly received by players and villagers and even without any involvement of the state government, it has become a movement. This is a very good sign for the game,” said Bhattacharya.

Sunday ended on a good note for Saikia and Upper Majuli as they were able to defeat the Monomoy tea estate team in two straight sets.

“The format is a bit challenging as four players have to cover the court instead of six, but we are enjoying the league. I have been playing volleyball for two years and want to take up the game professionally,” said 15-year-old captain of Upper Majuli, Lakhiram Das, a student of class 10.