Talking to KC and Urvin: The Inception of APL

Avneesh Garimella, Class of 2019

As the Ashoka Premier League (APL) 3.0 is set to begin on the 20th of April, the entire campus is buzzing with excitement over the event. From the auction to late night practices by the teams, APL is as big an event as any other in Ashoka. I decided to track down the source of this event, the two founders, KC Sachin and Urvin Soneta, and have a conversation with them about APL and its origins.

KC(3rd Year) and Urvin(ASP) were the founders of the first APL, and when I asked them about the origins of APL they first took me through why they thought there was a need for such an event in the first place. The lack of enthusiasm among the general Ashoka community and the lack of engagement with sports was what spurred KC and Urvin into considering such an event. The batch of 2018 came in and the state of sports was still the same as before, and it was then that they seriously began to consider organising an event that would not only help improve the sporting culture on campus but also be an event for non-athletes to participate in, such as the rest of the student body, staff and faculty. “The idea was to have an event that was glamourous and spread across the campus and not just the sporting community” says KC. The tournament also helped to increase the playing time for the football team. At the time, the football team used to play only one tournament for which a year of training was put in and hence the APL provided an avenue for them to showcase the skills that they had been working hard to hone.

An interesting part of story was how the idea began to take shape. During their winter break in their second year, they didn’t have any concrete plan and had only talked about it informally but at the end of the break, Urvin got a call from KC, while he was traveling in an auto, and was asked to check his email. KC had made a presentation about the entire process, from the auction to getting funding to the actual rules itself. In Urvin’s words “It was one of the best presentations” he had seen. A particularly impressive consequence of the APL was its ability to connect people across batches. This was in part because of how the entire event was marketed by them and how the money was utilized, especially the auction in which it was more about selecting the best available players and not just choosing one’s friends and so on, as KC stated. Urvin and KC both call the APL their baby, especially from an organizational point of view, given the number of hours of work and effort that they had invested in the event.

The biggest obstacle they had faced involved securing funds for such an event. They weren’t sure of how to get the money as both of them envisioned the event to be self-sustaining. Minor problems did arise, as it happens with all events, but the team has always been able to deal with it and learnt from any mistake they had made.

KC and Urvin are pleased at how the event has turned out so far and KC does feel that the event has turned out how he had envisioned it. The large scale of it was what caught Urvin off guard as he didn’t expect it to be so big across the campus. They both have big plans for APL, which involve it becoming the biggest event on campus, and the money that APL being donated to various charitable causes. They excitedly talk about how it is for them to witness APL 3.0 currently, with all the team practices, the large auction and the intensity of everyone involved in it.

When asked about what led to the event being such a success, they both believe it was their attention to detail and the amount of care they have shown for the event. It was extremely important to them to keep everyone happy, from the players, owners, vendors and even the audience. It involved a lot of planning as well as, such as anticipating what problems could occur and preparing for such eventualities, “Like giving the audience Odomos” jokes Urvin. The biggest reward, says KC, is when people come after the event and talk about how much they enjoyed it, especially the people who come to watch. The moment that stuck with both of them was when the event took placed the first time, the audience numbered around 200. That was the first time there were so many people viewing a sporting event, with about half the people on campus turning up. This was what defined success for them as it showed that they had succeeded in bringing people into the sports culture and creating the sort of campus atmosphere they had wanted.

The impact of APL on sports in Ashoka has been beyond what they expected. They spoke about how so many people play sports recreationally daily on campus, with cage football matches taking place all the time, and how this has produced a knock-on effect for other sports too. APL according to them has showed people a way to spend time doing something productive, that provides avenues to relax and take a break in general instead of turning to harmful activities. Though the APL is a completely student-run event, they mentioned how the Sports department has been extremely supportive of it and has provided any help they required at any point of time and has actively provided guidance whenever necessary.

Capping the interview, KC and Urvin spoke about how Kabir Singh and Adhiraj Srivastav have done a great job with APL 3.0 while also taking the opportunity to thank the team that helped them set up the inaugural APL which included Sourya Reddy, Chirag Chinnappa, Zoheb Bedi, Nikhilesh Prakash, Kanishk Srinivasan, Jayanti Jha, Ajay Sabharwal, Ritwik Mohanty and Shashwat Ghatiwala. They look forward to this event being a success for as long as Ashoka exists and are immensely proud of having started something as big as the APL.

The APL will take place on Friday and Saturday evening, on the football field, with some old and some new teams battling it out for bragging rights and the sizeable prize money. Make sure you’re there to watch some great football, and what will probably be the legendary Sourya Reddy’s last few moments on the Ashoka field!