Calicut Heroes play Bengaluru Torpedo
“Kochi, show us the moves…the camera is coming to you.” A crowd is thronging the Regional Sports Centre, where the final leg of the Rupay Prime Volleyball League (PVL) is underway. Strobe lights, disco music, giant screens and a hyper emcee create an electrifying atmosphere as the countdown begins for the all-important match between Kochi Blue Spikers and Mumbai Meteors.
Kochi is fast emerging as a preferred destination for high powered sporting events. In addition to the PVL, the city has hosted the inaugural Indian National Basketball League (INBL) 5×5 format and INBL 3×3 format and the ISL season opener. “Kerala has a very strong sports culture and Kochi has a great fan following for the sport,” says Tuhin Mishra, Founding Partner of PVL and MD, Baseline Ventures. “The infrastructure is good and the regional sports center is compact and efficient.”
Former volleyball player and Olympian C Mitchell
resting place
Another reason is the popularity of Kochi as a holiday destination. “Sports are competitive and require complete focus and hard work. In such a situation, players, coaches, team managers are all under stress. Kochi is also a place to relax,” says Tuhin. The mix of tourism, relaxation, Ayurveda and sports works wonders. According to him, the top management of volleyball world and a member of Federation International of Volleyball (FIVB), who Gearing up for the finale on March 5, the fans are excited to be in God’s Own Country. “They are keen to explore Kerala. The Bengaluru team chose the houseboat experience to relax.”
Team Chennai Blitz members on houseboat trip
“Kerala is the hot bed for volleyball in India. The best players come from here. Every league has a derby when two teams from the same state clash… It’s vibrant energy,” said David Lee, American volleyball player and current coach of Bengaluru Torpedoes, who played for the Kochi team in 2018, and Kozhikode Says for. 2012. Pankaj Sharma, who is from Himachal Pradesh but captains the Bengaluru team, agrees with David about the visitors. “They buy tickets and come,” he says. “Everyone knows the game.” Both David and Pankaj are enjoying the cuisine of Kerala. While for the former “it was toddy, pickled clams and beef”, the latter mentions the Kerala parotta.
Si Mitchell, an Olympian and former American volleyball player, is impressed with the standards, the new short format, and the city. “I am loving every minute of commentating in this league. It is being run professionally, with physios, training facilities, good hotels. The players are central to it,” says CI, who made his trip to Fort Kochi focused on “all cheese preparations” to be savored. Another commentator, Lewis Litt of England, agreed the new format would “revolutionize the game.” “The draft and the draft (selection process) make it a level playing field,” he says. A Londoner, Levitt is familiar with Indian curries, but enjoyed the “variations” and found the backwaters “magical”.
professional sports
Commentators – C Michel, Levi Lett, Aatish Thukral, Manish Batavia and Sunil Taneja – on a boat trip in Alappuzha to the final of the Prime Volleyball League, 2023
Jerome Vineeth from Tamil Nadu is the attacker of Calicut Heroes. He finds Kerala’s “volleyball craze” astonishing. “They are crazy about volleyball,” he says, adding that 900 fans turned up for a match in Bengaluru when Calicut was playing. “They came from 700 km away.” He mentions the high TRPs and Tuhin agrees that “Kerala is showing good numbers.”
Despite all this, David feels that “an overall volleyball culture is missing” and that the “just attack” style is archaic. But, he says that PVL has a role in showcasing Indian volleyball to the world.
Commentator Aatish Thukral
through hoops
Kochi also hosted the INBL and Rana Thalith, Secretary, District Basketball Association and INBL coordinator, recalls, “We hosted 196 teams with 750 players in the first edition (3X3 format), coordinated their stay, practice. session, schedule, match and so on. We organized it at Don Bosco in Vennala and pooled our funds to make it a success. The smooth execution of the event was taken care of and Kochi was chosen to host the regular 5×5 format in October 2022.
He also pointed out that Kochi, which has now built a reputation for such events, cannot rest on just one regional sports centre. Although the stadium has recently added sky courts for badminton, renovated all 20 rooms and redone wooden playing surfaces at a cost of Rs 60 lakh, “We need more courts, playgrounds and such. Need facilities. The stadium to be built at CUSAT will help us host big and high-profile events like the PVL.