FormostIndiansportspersonsun0lnow,climbingtothetopoftheirgamewasachallengethatwentbeyondtheirtalentordedica0on.PrakashPadukonehasspokeno=enenoughofhowhehonedhisearlybadmintonskillsinahallthatalsoservedasavenueforweddings. Hisstoryhaschangedonlymarginallyformanyupcomingathletes,forwhomthelackofworld-classspor0nginfrastructureinIndiamakesallthedifferenceinmakingthecountryproudorreturninghomeempty-handedfromaninterna0onaltournament.

Insuchascenario,astate-of-the-artspor0ngfacilitylikethePadukone-DravidCentreforSportsExcellencecanhaveanalmostimmediateimpactonthecalibreofsportspersonswhotrainthere.SoatCSE,weareespeciallyproudwhenathleteswhocon0nuallystriveforexcellenceatoneofourexperiencedAcademiesareabletowinlaurelsforourcountryataglobalspor0ngevent,becausetheytrainedhere. Inthismonth’sGameOn!feature,weraiseatoasttosomeofourrisingstarswhocarrythemantleofspor0ngexcellenceintotheAsianGamestobeheldinAugust.

PPBAprotegeAakarshiKashyaphasbeenselectedaspartofthe20-member Men’s andWomen’s squad announced by the BadmintonAssocia0onofIndia(BAI)torepresentIndiaatthe2018AsianGamestobeheldinJakarta,IndonesiafromAugust18-28,2018.

Inaddi0on,LakshyaSenofPPBAhasbeenselectedbytheBadmintonAssocia0on of India to spearhead the Indian challenge inthe Badminton Asia Junior Championships to be held in Jakarta,IndonesiafromJuly14to22. Incidentally,LakshyaSenalsohadthedis0nc0on of being selected to represent India in the Thomas andUberCupbadmintonfinalsheldinThailandlastmonth. OtherPPBAplayerswhoarepartofthe Indianteamare IndiaNo.3(U-19Boys)KiranGeorgeandIndiaNo.1(U-19Girls)AakarshiKashyap.

TheBasavanagudiAqua0cClub(BAC)isanametoreckonwithinthehistory books of compe00ve swimming in Karnataka. The BAC hasdominatedtheStateswimmingchampionshipsforover30years,withonlyoneotherteam-theK.C.ReddySwimCentre-havingli=edthetrophywaybackin1996.

Thatwasun0ltheDolphinAqua7cs teamshowedupthisyear, freshfromtheir rigorous training scheduleat thePadukone-DravidCentrefor Sports Excellence, and raring to have a go at the record books.Breaking the stranglehold of BAC, Team Dolphin li=ed the OverallChampionship trophy at the Karnataka State Sub Junior and JuniorAqua0cChampionships2018 inMysore. ThestarsoftheshowwereSuvana C. Baskar, Kapil SheEy, Vidith Shankar and NavaneethGowda, who won individual championships in their respec0ve agegroups.

NiharAmeen,thebackboneofDolphinAqua0csandtherecipientoftheNa0onalDronacharyaAward2015foroutstandingcoachingandmentorship,isenthusias0caboutthepremierfacili0esthatCSEoffersthe Dolphin swimmers. CSE’s Olympic-sized swimming pool is thetraining ground forVirdhawalKhade andSandeepSejwal,whoareamongIndia’sbesthopestowinlaurelsattheupcomingAsianGames2018inIndonesiathisAugust. AttheAsianGamestrialsheldatCSEonJune16and17,VirdhawalKhadetouchedinat50.66seconds inthe 100m Freestyle and created a new best in the 50m Freestyle,clocking 22.52 seconds. Sandeep Sejwal clocked his best 0me at1:01.72secondsinthe100m,andcreatedanewbest inthe50mat27.70seconds.

Team Dolphin con0nued their medal run at the 35th Sub-Junior &45thJuniorNa0onalChampionships2018inPune. SuvanaC.BaskarandSahilLaskarshaheredtheNa0onalrecords in50mBuherflyand100m Backstroke respec0vely, withManavi Varmawinning Gold ather very first Na0onals in the 50m Buherfly. Other Golds went toLohit.M.,NinaVenkateshandR.NavaneethGowda,whileSanjay.C.J., Kapil SheEy,RenukacharyaHodmani, KarthikeyanNairandNivaSharma made great placings, sejng the pace for beher races tocome.

Ifthatwerenotenough,theDolphinteamwonitsfirstevermedalatan interna0onal meet since they began their training at the CSEfacili0es. TejasNandaKumarwontheBronzeinthe400mFreestyleattheWorldParaSwimmingChampionshipsinBerlininJune.

This came fresh on the heels of the Singapore Na0onal SwimmingChampionships 2018 earlier thismonth,where Sandeep SejwalwonGold intheMen’s50mBreastrokewitha0meof27.59seconds,andalsogatheredtheSilverintheMen's100mBreaststrokewitha0meof1:02.33 seconds. Virdhawal Khade won Gold in the Men's 100mFreestyle with a 0me of 50.26 seconds, and as he qualified for hissecondeventforthe2018AsianGames,hecruisedpastOlympicGoldmedalistJosephSchoolingofSingapore,whofinishedthirdwitha0meof50.49seconds. KhadealsowonSilver intheMen's50mFreestylewitha0meof22.68seconds.

TheduoisconfidentthattheAsianGameswillbetheirmomentinthesun,traininghardastheyareatCSE. Needlesstosay,theCSEfamilywillbecheeringourathletesallthewayastheymaketheirwaytothewinners’podium!

Shu,leSuccess!

ASwimmingStory

sportsssrc news18

The Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) had the privilege of being selected to conduct the first ever South Asian Region&NaBonal Sub-JuniorBadmintonCoachingCamp sponsoredby theBadmintonAssociaBonof India,which is beingheld at thePadukone-DravidCentreforSportsExcellencein2phases.

ParBcipants of the camp are focusing on improvingtheir on-court and off-court training, developingphysical fitness and also aOending sessions on theimportance of diet, nutriBon and sports psychology.The young athletes of the first phase of the campunderwent health assessments conducted by theAbhinavBindraTarge/ngPerformanceCentre.

They also benefiOed greatly through a highlymoBvaBonalgroupinteracBonwithCSEmentorRahulDravid,besidesgePngpointersfromwatchingmedal-winning badminton matches of Indian players fromthepast.

Inaugurated by Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, President of theBadmintonAssociaBonofIndiaandVice-PresidentofBadmintonAsiaConfederaBononJune25,2018atCSE,thecampwelcomed45Under-13andUnder-15playersfromacrossIndiainthefirstphase,aswellasplayersfromSAARCcountriesSriLanka,Nepal,Maldives and Bangladesh in the second phase, in a first-of-its-kindregionaliniBaBve.

Onthisoccasion,theBAIPresidentandDyCMofAssam,Dr.Himanta Biswa Sarma also officially inaugurated theBadmintonBlockatCSEbycuPngtheribbononthe10-courtsaswellasthe6-courts.HeenjoyedafewrallieswithPrakashPadukone and spentBme interacBngwith theplayers in the10-court hall, before spending Bme visiBng the other sportsfaciliBesatCSE.

Dr.SarmasharedtheposiBvefeedbackandrequestsformoresuch camps already being received from several StatebadmintonassociaBons,uponconclusionofthefirstphaseofthecamp. Heannouncedplanstoconductmoresuchcampsinthefuturefocusedonencouragingandgroomingpromisingyoungsters, including providing scholarships and sendingselectedplayersforadvancedtrainingoverseas.

SIXCricketAcademycommenced itsAnnualTrainingprogrammesattheendof June,offeringbothweekdayandweekendsessions. TheAcademyhasnowsignedup130trainees,andallweekendslotsarefull. CSE’s full-sizedcricketturfwillbefuncHonalinthelastweekofJuly,andwillbeanaddedaIracHonforthesecricketlovers. TheAcademy’sathletesarecurrentlyparHcipaHngintheongoingU-19KSCALeague.

OurFootballpartnersBocaJuniorshavemadeKarnatakaproudbybecomingtheonly4-StarFootballAcademyinSouthIndia,havingbeen cerHfied by the All India Football FederaHon during its2018-19AIFFAcademyAccreditaHonprocess. CongratulaHonstoBocaonthisdisHncHon!

The PBI Tennis Academy conHnued its Summer Camp programme atCSEwith15childrenparHcipaHngintwoagegroups,overafortnight.The Academy now has a full day programme, two aYer-schoolprograms and several weekend classes for various ages. PBI’s Juniorprogrammenowhasawaitlistofaspiringtennisenthusiasts,resulHnginincreasedclassesandanewtennisinstructortohelpwiththeload.Withover40full-Hmestudentstakingpart inPBI’s programmes,theAcademyisnowalsosupplemenHngitsregularschedulewithstudentswhoavailofprivatelessons.

Onthetournament frontVishalGautam,oneofPBI’s full-Hmestudents, recentlyplacedasRunner-up intheUnder16AITAChampionshipSeriesheldinBangalore.KudostoVishalandhiscoachesatPBI!

Youngplayerso.enhearstatements like“all thebest”,“giveyoureverything”or“don’tbenervous, justgoandplay”as theyenterthe field a.er warming up; while the inten?on behind thesephrases is meant to be encouraging, the players are o.en le.confusedandpressurisedduetotheambiguitysurroundingthesestatements.

Howonecangivehis/herbest,handlenervousnesseffec?vely,andpush themselves is something that has to be communicated tothem regularly in training first for them to be able to apply inmatcheslater.Thisiswhereasportpsychologiststepsintohelpaplayer understand the mental demands of their sport and breakdown the thinking process and mental approach that he/ sherequires.

Whenplayersprogress,theyareo.enexpectedtopickupmentalquali?eslikepuInginconsistenteffort,beingfocusedononeself,stayingdetermined, communica?ng freely,beingadjus?ngand soon.What’s o.enmissed out on is that just like physical training,which is done everyday,mental training also requires a player toworkontheirmentalskillsregularlywithconsciouseffort.

AsashuKlerprac?cesdrops,adefenderworksonhisintercep?onsand a tennis player works on her serve, understanding eachindividual’smindsettowardstraining,his/hermentaldemandsandtheir awareness about themselves becomes vital for everyone inthispicture-playersthemselves,coaches,parentsandthesupportstaff.Inordertogetanelaborateunderstandingofhowtosupportthe development of players, it is essen?al that sport psychologyalso be introduced to them at an early age and be integrated intheirregulartrainingprogram!

In June, The Badminton Associa?on of India (BAI) conducted theNa?onal sub- junior badminton coaching camp for under 13 andunder15boysandgirls.Duringthiscamp,Samikshawasinvitedtoconductagroupsessiononmentaltraining,togivetheplayersanidea ofwhatmental training is and how it can help themduringtheir matches and in training. The session introduced mentaltrainingandtaughttheplayerscertaintechniquestoapplytohelpthem improve their focus and develop their self- awareness. Thesessionendedwithan interac?veQ&Asessionduringwhichtheplayers and coaches were encouraged to ask ques?ons aboutmentaltrainingandthetechniquesthatweretaught.

Theyoungshu+lersfromthefirstphaseoftheBAICampa8ertheirMentalTrainingworkshop

FormoredetailsonhowMentalTrainingcanhelpyourgame,clickhere!