‘We only speak rugby’

Last week the sports world was abuzz with news of the Indian National Womenrsquos 7s Rugby team securing a spot at the upcoming 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou China The team which currently ranks seventh in Asia is excited to represent India at the championships in SeptemberThe team first came together in 2018 and since then has achieved many milestones Coach Ludwiche Van Deventer reminisces how the first time they experienced team power was during the under18 championships in the Kalinga stadium Bhubaneshwar where thousands of school students turned up in support Then came the two Asia Trophy semifinal championships where the team scored the winning tryldquoOne of my fondest memories is how we would never start a training session without walking across the field to pick up stones so that the girls do not get hurt while playingrdquo Deventer recalls ldquoWhen we met in 2018 we trained on a small patch of grass on the outskirts of Bhubaneshwar Warmup was a chicken run across the field collecting the stones in tshirts and waiting for the cows grazing on the grass to leaverdquoCoach Ludwiche Van Deventer with captain Sheetal Sharma and wing player Hupi MajhiSheetal Sharma captain of the team had no intention of joining rugby she was training for volleyball at the zonal and district level ldquoI wanted to be either a sportsperson or a dance choreographerrdquo the bubbly 28yearold tells us She did stints in athletics in the 800 and 1500 m track even going on to statelevel and nationallevel competitions before starting to play rugby alongside after being recruited spontaneously for a match by the Delhi Hurricanes rugby club in 2016 There has been no turning back sinceAlso readIndia win Womenrsquos Emerging Asia Cup titleHupi Majhi her teammate from Odisha got into the sport to fulfill her dream to fly on a plane and see the world She played the sport secretly while in school and college because her family wouldnrsquot allow her to wear the required uniform of short pants and Tshirt When she began appearing on the local news for winning only then did they give their blessing Now rugby is everything ldquoRugby mein aake jeena seeka mainerdquo Majhi saysDeventer who hails from South Africa had to contend with language difficulties when he started coaching the team Initially he communicated using facial expressions and hand gestures but soon everyone spoke ldquorugby languagerdquo Sharma who brands herself ldquoa troublemaker and natkhatrdquomdashldquoI call her one of the two problem children in my grouprdquo Deventer interjectsmdashsays that they were initially hesitant about a foreign coach but Deventer distilled the basics in a simplified mannerHe doesnrsquot stop Sharma from fooling around but ensures she shows up for her team ldquoShe knows how to create a fun environment for herself and her teammates but when itrsquos time to take responsibility she leads by example on the fieldrdquo he says ldquoHupi on the other hand coming from a performance and winningoriented state brings seriousness to the gamerdquo The team has faced challenges leading up to championships Backtoback training camps and lsquogoing in blindrsquomdashrugbyspeak for lack of information about their opponentsmdashwhich makes strategising difficultTournaments usually take place in the middle of the year which is the monsoons in Indiamdashbut not elsewhere As rugby is played mainly on grass weather conditions impede training sessions And though the team trains in wet conditions they have to play the actual match in sunny weather Or theyrsquoll train in a sunny humid atmosphere in India and have to score in snowy Uzbekistan But the proud coach feels his team has ldquothe potential to take India to the world stage In 2018 I made a promise to them I wonrsquot stop coaching them until the world knows about themrdquo ldquoWersquove earned the position we are in todayrdquo Sharma says determination on her face ldquoWe want to represent India see the flag lifted high Irsquove got goosebumps just saying this I canrsquot imagine how proud Irsquoll feel in realityrdquo