PKL: Former players starting to take over as coaches now

Nearly half of the teams in this PKL season are marshalled by coaches who have been former players in the league or the national team.

After lifting the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) title with Dabang Delhi last season, Manjeet Chhillar knew age and injuries had caught up with his body and soon called time on his playing days. For 22 years, kabaddi is all the all-rounder from Delhi knew, and although he’d seen some of his peers venture into business activities for their post-kabaddi career, Chhillar wanted to “stick with the sport that is in my blood”.

Nearly half of the teams in this PKL season are marshalled by coaches who have been former players in the league or the national team. (ANI)

A year on, Chhillar, who captained Bengaluru Bulls in the opening PKL season, still finds his presence in the league. The two-time Asian Games gold medallist was roped in by Telugu Titans as their assistant coach for this ninth season. Chhillar did not think twice before taking the coaching plunge.

“After the first few seasons of PKL, I knew the moment I leave the game as a player, I will get into coaching,” he said.

The 2016 World Cup winner isn’t the only one managing a team with his roots to the mat. Nearly half of the teams in this PKL season are marshalled by coaches who have been former players in the league or the national team. It includes the likes of K Baskaran (Bengal Warriors), Manpreet Singh (Haryana Steelers), Ram Mehar Singh (Gujarat Titans), BC Ramesh (Puneri Paltan) and Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan (Jaipur Pink Panthers).

“It’s a welcome trend,” Baskaran, who played for India and went on to coach the national side, said. “We have more former PKL players and India internationals as coaches in the league now.”

While someone like Baskaran is a veteran coach having led the Pink Panthers to victory in the inaugural season, Manpreet had captained Patna Pirates to the 2016 PKL title before hanging up his boots and switching to the coaching hat.

Chhillar said the advent and growth of PKL has provided players like him and Manpreet an additional avenue within the sport after their professional careers meet the end road.

“It (PKL) has provided us with that platform. If a good level player gets into coaching, then youngsters will benefit and the overall performances of players and teams will also rise. If players like us don’t become coaches, then who will?” Chhillar said.

Unlike Baskaran who has a coaching degree from the National Institute of Sports, Chhillar has no formal coaching experience; he does mention that he has been coaching kids in his village and at the junior level for years. Chhillar, though, doesn’t believe that a one-year diploma stamp is a prerequisite for players of his caliber to become coaches in his sport. “I have 22 years of match experience. No diploma can match that,” he said.

Apart from the advantages of understanding the game, a player-turned-coach automatically gets a boost in earning the respect of his team, reckoned Baskaran. “Players tend to respect such coaches. They will trust that coach—that he has been an outstanding player and we can learn a lot under him in terms of technique and tactics,” he said.

“We understand a kabaddi player,” Chhillar said. “We can look at the body of a player and know that he needs rest, diet, practice etc. Coaches who haven’t played the sport will not be able to gauge such things.”

That said, the experienced Baskaran feels more pressure in his coaching days than he did during his playing days. “As a player, I didn’t take a lot of tension. As a coach, neend nahi aati (I have sleepless nights),” he laughed. “You constantly have to think about so many aspects.”

For Chhillar, the “mazza (joy) and challenge” of competing remains unmatched. But now that he has opened a new chapter in his kabaddi book, he is eager to script a few success stories in it too. “As a player, I had set certain targets and achieved them,” he said. “As a player, I made my career, and now as a coach I want to make my career too.”