CATCH ’EM YOUNG: Rowers need to develop their skills early Photo: Subhendu Chaki

A brown-headed, stork-billed kingfisher flaps its wings hurriedly, flying swiftly over the waters of Dhakuria lake, to its nest on one of the little artificial islands. A boat lightly brushes against the twig the bird was perching upon, as a team of four young oarsmen move in perfect rhythm to beat the stop watch, touch finishing point and hear the magic words “Ease oar”. The cox screams herself hoarse, trying to speed up the rating, keeping rhythm and steering the boat.

It is only just past six in the morning but the June sunlight filtering through the thin layer of clouds is already bright and scorching. The grounds of the Rabindra Sarobar stadium, Calcutta Rowing Club (CRC), Lake Club and Bengal Rowing Club (BRC) skirting the lakes are teeming with girls and boys — from teenagers to those in their early 20s — jogging, exercising on the ergometer, punting or getting ready for an “outing” on the waters. This crowd of early birds — in white shorts, t-shirts and sneakers — has quite a few national-level rowers as well. They move out in fours, pairs in tub boats, scull boats or as double scullers — practising a variety of rowing events for the coming races. The singles event itself involves different sections — with dinghy boats, wiff boats, junior scull and senior scull. Veteran rowers and coaches like Ashok Mehta, Sunny Medhora and Shakeel Ahmed — all Lake Club members — supervise the activity, often resorting to classroom disciplinary action to quieten unleashed young energy. The trainees however take it all sportingly, keen to learn and make the best of the excellent training and facilities forwarded by both BRC and Lake Club during regattas — which come free of cost.

June is regatta time at the lakes. The BRC regatta — where the first prize was a cash award of a whopping Rs 80,000 — is just over. A good number of young rowers selected from city schools represented West Bengal at the national- level competition at Kodaikanal, following the BRC regatta. And now they are busy gearing up for the prestigious Lake Club (interschool) regatta from June 20 to 26. This is the 32nd year of the regatta involving 75 school teams — 70 from Calcutta, three from Chennai and two from Manipur. According to the Captain of Boats this year for Lake Club — veteran oarsman Debabrata Datta — Lake Club will be sponsoring the stay of outstation teams, allotting a separate guesthouse for the girls.

“And this is the reason why we can’t accept all the outstation applications; budget restrictions force us to pick and choose,” he rues. Though there is sponsorship from the corporate sector — Patton and Indian Oil Servo chipping in at the BRC and Lake Club regattas respectively — the Lake Club budget does not include cash awards. “Certificates and medals for young rowers are good enough,” Datta feels.

Especially since there are sufficient rewards ahead — when they perform at the all-India level, for instance. Debabrata Datta feels that going up to the national level is comparatively easier in rowing than in other sports, as countrywide popularity of the sport is low. Vice-captain Aniruddha Mukherjee agrees, adding, “This is primarily the reason why we are so keen that promising city school children get a chance to train themselves under national-level coaches.” There is a national scholarship on offer for the first three places at the Lake Club regatta.

Winners can progress to — who knows? — maybe even the Olympics. “Rowing has 14 events in the Olympics,” informs Subrata Datta of the Lake Club, “six for women and eight for men”. It is also one of the oldest games to be included in the modern Olympics, he informs you, dating back to 1896. Former general secretary of the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) and organising secretary for the Delhi Asiad rowing events, Subrata Datta is president of the jury for the coming regatta. Beginning his rowing career at the now derelict University Rowing Club, he was a founder-member of the RFI.

Club sponsorship of equipment and training is now allowing young rowers to pursue a sport that was once faintly elitist. Even now, it remains expensive (a fibreglass boat costs around Rs 1 lakh while oars are priced at Rs 20,000). At CRC, the admission charge is Rs 25,000.

The best time to start training is in the early teens, when physical energy heightens and muscular development begins. S. R. Kalidas, a 1982 Asiad gold medallist and chief coach at the CRC (which happens to be the oldest rowing club in India, proudly sporting the 1838 dateline on its façade), advises a balanced diet and insists on a good seven-hour sleep for young trainees. “They should have a light early-morning snack before practice,” he recommends. In the next two-hour practice session, including jogging, about 800 calories is lost. Kalidas himself keeps an eye on the youngsters and wants “only the very best” to go in for special coaching. “And short-cut training for a single season is of no use. So they should have the right amount of tenacity as it involves waking early everyday and slogging outside study hours.”

As in every sport or recreation in the world, the trick is to catch them young.