{"id":3278,"date":"2020-04-22T11:34:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T11:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the-edict.in\/?p=3278"},"modified":"2020-12-26T09:53:40","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T09:53:40","slug":"down-but-not-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/2020\/04\/22\/down-but-not-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Down But Not Out: How Ashoka’s Sports Teams Combatted the Coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dhruvan Nair, Undergraduate 2021<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the end of February 2020. The least of Ashokans\u2019 worries was doing well in their midsems and being able to catch a shuttle to Jahangirpuri to start their journey back home. Then came the Coronavirus which brought life on campus to a standstill. Amongst the numerous disruptions it brought to Ashoka, the virus also obstructed any further progress for the stellar seasons that its sports teams were enjoying. A prime example of this is the campaigns of the Women\u2019s Football team and the Ultimate team.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2019-20 season brought incredible success to the Ashokan\nWomen\u2019s Football team. With the influx of the new Undergraduate batch came new\nrecruits and this revitalized side kicked off their campaign on home turf, at\nAgneepath. They made it to the final, after thrashing the likes of St.\nStephen’s College, IIIT-D as well as local rivals, O.P Jindal Global University\nby a whopping aggregate of 18-1. Despite tasting defeat in the final, the team\nshowed great character in turning around their fortunes by emerging victorious\non multiple occasions such as the Triquetra Sports Fest (hosted jointly by\nIIITD, DTU & NSIT), the Adidas Unfair Tournament, Breeze \u201820 (hosted by\nShiv Nadar University) and finally, Hobnob \u201920 (hosted by Jesus and Mary\nCollege, DU). This year\u2019s victory at Breeze \u201820, was the third consecutive year\nthat the Women\u2019s Football Team tasted success there. Up next in the calendar\nwas Magnus, hosted by Jindal as well as the much-anticipated tournament at BITS\nPilani, Goa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ashoka Women’s Football Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew the level of football that we’ll see there but we\nwere also super enthusiastic about playing and defeating them with our own\nstyle of football. But then this Covid situation happened. We were told that\nboth these tournaments got cancelled and were disappointed beyond measure\u201d,\nshared Chitrali, a member of the team. \u201cDespite being stranded in our\nrespective homes we were all still in touch with each other. In a few days, we\nstarted having Zoom sessions to help each other during these extremely\nirritating times. We would send memes on our group, talk about workout\nsessions, etc. Talking to these girls motivated me a lot. At the end of the\nday, we never really feel apart, we’re all in this together and are positive\nabout the future.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from the Women\u2019s Football team, Ashoka\u2019s Ultimate team\nenjoyed a successful run this year as well. The team\u2019s run included a Single\nGender Regional held in Surat as well as two sectionals, one hosted by St.\nStephens College and the other by Motilal Nehru School of Sports (MNSS). Ashoka\nemerged Division 2 champions in the Regionals and finished 4th<\/sup> in\nspirit rankings across all divisions. However, the main tournament of the\nseason was yet to be played.  This was\nthe National College Ultimate Championship (NCUC) in Ahmedabad. To arrive in good\nform, the team also played a few friendly fixtures with universities such as\nSt. Stephens and other Ultimate clubs such as Straw Dogs in Sweaters, an\nexperienced side in the National Club Championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ashoka Ultimate Frisbee Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were putting in a lot of fitness and skill development\nsessions to prepare for the NCUC and the whole team stayed back on campus\nduring the midterm break to arrive sharp at the tournament\u201d, explained Dhruva,\na member of the Hammerheads team. \u201cIt was in the middle of the train journey\nthat we got to know about the tournament being cancelled. For the next few\nhours, I don’t think it really hit anyone, it was all just surreal. It was\nevident that despite having the perfect mindset and giving everything for a\nwhole semester, things didn’t pan out for us. But I think we aren’t all that\nsad now because we all went through this story together and were able to\nwitness our growth together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the unfortunate halt to their terrific campaigns, both sets of teams are finding ways to keep their connection with the sport alive. To battle the quarantine blues, the girls in red and white have started an Instagram page of their own (@ashokawomensfc), managed collectively by all the players, to share their stories. Both sets of teams also have countless Zoom sessions to facilitate a communal space for the team to regularly remain in touch . Such efforts go a long way in recreating the sense of joy that one experiences each time while stepping on to the pitch, be it through a clever nutmeg or landing that perfect pickup. It is the love for the sport that brings these players together which is the quintessence of team spirit, irrespective of the quarantine status. This is the fuel that drives both these teams to continue working now, aiming to come back stronger than before even during a global pandemic. It is only a matter of time before the green fields of the Ashokan campus welcome back their players, to step onto the pitch and begin again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dhruvan Nair, Undergraduate 2021 It\u2019s the end of February 2020. The least of Ashokans\u2019 worries was doing well in their midsems and being able to catch a shuttle to Jahangirpuri to start their journey back home. Then came the Coronavirus which brought life on campus to a standstill. Amongst the numerous disruptions it brought to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[30,289,210,233],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3278"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3278"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4382,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3278\/revisions\/4382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}