A volleyball revolution in the land of tea gardens

It is almost two years since the Brahmaputra Volleyball League (BVL) heralded a silent revival of the sport in Assam, literally known as the tea gardens of the country.

The brainchild of a former player-turned-coach Abhijeet Bhattacharya (who is credited to be the first player from Assam to wear the national colours), the BVL comprising 50 teams of boys and girls in the Under-16 year age category created a major buzz around the sport in the country in 2020.

And now two years down the line, there are more than 2,000 kids, who are training under him and aspiring to represent India at the national level.

"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," Bhattacharya was quoted as saying by the local media, as he recalled how the BVL journey started.

While normal teams have six-players-per-side, it was decided to keep team size to four players with players going from one village to another to play games on a home-and-away normal format, just like any other professional league.

With the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, though Bhattacharya's ambitious plans initially took a back seat, the fighter in him came out.

"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 BVL with the aim of making Assam one of the best volleyball teams in the country," added Bhattacharya.

Though he had quit from active sport some 15 years back, Bhattacharya, who is in his mid-40s, is still passionate about the game.

"The sport is a low investment, easy to learn and play and can be very entertaining for audiences to watch live. This makes it ideal for rural settings," said Bhattacharya, who now wants to expand his BVL project further and take it to the masses.

"Sports is a medium of change. It's changing entire villages. I want to take this project further and create more opportunities for younger children," he signed off.

Sports is without boundaries goes the adage and the success of BVL proves just that! The volleyball revolution which began in the tea gardens is now going places.