Post by gigteam on Dec 5, 2008 17:25:10 GMT
Learning to roll with the punches when you mix with the big boys
Stathi Paxinos
December 4, 2008
Latest related coverage Fringe sports: Kabaddi
Video It's part wrestling, part tag and you must hold your breath...
.A bit of slap, wrestle, run and raiding
AdvertisementCROUCH down, stretch arms out, spread fingers — the classical stance of a kabaddi raider mastered already. OK, which one of these four guys am I going to tag? How about this one directly in front of me? Missed him, the sneaky bugger backed off too quick for me. OK, how about this other guy? Well, that's taken about 90 per cent of the time allocated, so how do I get back to my half ?
Now I have a declaration to make. The members of the Melbourne Kabaddi Academy, who showed me the ropes of one of the favoured sporting pastimes of the Indian Sikh community, did go easy on me. Very, very easy — embarrassingly so.
The ones who I did manage to tag basically stood still right in front of me and did very little to prevent me from successfully returning to my side of the field to win the point. When the tables were turned and I became a defender — or stopper as they are called — the opposition's raider readily submitted to my pitiful attempt at impeding his progress when I did my best imitation of a speed hump after throwing my body at his feet.
Not that I am not grateful for the consideration, given that most of the team were competitive wrestlers — one of whom competed at the Beijing Olympics — and were about twice my size. Add to that the fact that I can barely see beyond my nose without my glasses, which I had to remove — as I also did with, and this was with more trepidation, my shirt — and my concerns about having a dodgy neck.
But, during the few hours I spent watching them train over two sessions, I did gain an appreciation of just what a tough sport this was and the skill and strength needed to play it.
It was certainly not how it was initially portrayed to me when I mentioned to one of my colleagues that I was planning at having a go at kabaddi and he asked if that was the thing with all the slapping.
Well, a look at footage on YouTube will reveal some of the finest examples of gargantuan men seemingly throwing tantrums at each other. But as I discovered, there is a lot to this sport that makes is a real crowd-pleaser, not only in its traditional heartland of India's northern regions, especially the Punjab, but in other areas of the sub-continent and south Asia as well as Sikh outposts around the world, particularly in Canada, America and England.
The recoil from one of the pushes and shoves from someone such as Manga Mithapuriya would be like trying to block the path of a Mack truck.
Video link
The shows of strength to break free from the intricate tangle of bodies were also a particular highlight for me.
Traditionally kabaddi was played with the attacking raiders required to hold their breath for the entire period of the raid. To prove that they were doing just that they had to continually chant the word "kabaddi" and if at any stage the rhythm was broken, the competitor would be beaten. I was particularly worried about this, as holding my breath had never been one of my stronger suits — and I could not comprehend how I could run, wrestle, slap and push and whatever else without having an intake. But this stipulation has now been changed to a rule where the attacking team has 30 seconds for each raid.
Team coach Kuldip Bassi wants to open the sport up to other cultures — an aim which is met with some resistance among the local Sikh community. From what I saw it does look like a sport that can be a real crowd-pleaser — especially when the big boys are brought down by the smaller guys.
Google Kabbadi Images
Google Kabbadi videos
Youtube Kabbadi Videos
Source:http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/
Stathi Paxinos
December 4, 2008
Latest related coverage Fringe sports: Kabaddi
Video It's part wrestling, part tag and you must hold your breath...
.A bit of slap, wrestle, run and raiding
AdvertisementCROUCH down, stretch arms out, spread fingers — the classical stance of a kabaddi raider mastered already. OK, which one of these four guys am I going to tag? How about this one directly in front of me? Missed him, the sneaky bugger backed off too quick for me. OK, how about this other guy? Well, that's taken about 90 per cent of the time allocated, so how do I get back to my half ?
Now I have a declaration to make. The members of the Melbourne Kabaddi Academy, who showed me the ropes of one of the favoured sporting pastimes of the Indian Sikh community, did go easy on me. Very, very easy — embarrassingly so.
The ones who I did manage to tag basically stood still right in front of me and did very little to prevent me from successfully returning to my side of the field to win the point. When the tables were turned and I became a defender — or stopper as they are called — the opposition's raider readily submitted to my pitiful attempt at impeding his progress when I did my best imitation of a speed hump after throwing my body at his feet.
Not that I am not grateful for the consideration, given that most of the team were competitive wrestlers — one of whom competed at the Beijing Olympics — and were about twice my size. Add to that the fact that I can barely see beyond my nose without my glasses, which I had to remove — as I also did with, and this was with more trepidation, my shirt — and my concerns about having a dodgy neck.
But, during the few hours I spent watching them train over two sessions, I did gain an appreciation of just what a tough sport this was and the skill and strength needed to play it.
It was certainly not how it was initially portrayed to me when I mentioned to one of my colleagues that I was planning at having a go at kabaddi and he asked if that was the thing with all the slapping.
Well, a look at footage on YouTube will reveal some of the finest examples of gargantuan men seemingly throwing tantrums at each other. But as I discovered, there is a lot to this sport that makes is a real crowd-pleaser, not only in its traditional heartland of India's northern regions, especially the Punjab, but in other areas of the sub-continent and south Asia as well as Sikh outposts around the world, particularly in Canada, America and England.
The recoil from one of the pushes and shoves from someone such as Manga Mithapuriya would be like trying to block the path of a Mack truck.
Video link
The shows of strength to break free from the intricate tangle of bodies were also a particular highlight for me.
Traditionally kabaddi was played with the attacking raiders required to hold their breath for the entire period of the raid. To prove that they were doing just that they had to continually chant the word "kabaddi" and if at any stage the rhythm was broken, the competitor would be beaten. I was particularly worried about this, as holding my breath had never been one of my stronger suits — and I could not comprehend how I could run, wrestle, slap and push and whatever else without having an intake. But this stipulation has now been changed to a rule where the attacking team has 30 seconds for each raid.
Team coach Kuldip Bassi wants to open the sport up to other cultures — an aim which is met with some resistance among the local Sikh community. From what I saw it does look like a sport that can be a real crowd-pleaser — especially when the big boys are brought down by the smaller guys.
Google Kabbadi Images
Google Kabbadi videos
Youtube Kabbadi Videos
Source:http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/
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