Let's create a national network of academies: VB Chandrashekar

VB Chandrasekhar has always done things in style - be it on the field or off. A swashbuckling opening batsman in his time, he was one cricketer who could match the irrepressible K Srikkanth in strokeplay and run production. Now having retired, his penchant for thinking big is evident in his new `avatar' as the head of the VB Cricket Academy. He speaks to CricInfo at length about how the academy started and his plans for the future.

VB: In 1997, I was still playing for Goa and I thought that there were a lot of youngsters who required my experience. It was not enough to play for a long time in first class cricket and then disappear all together to do something else. Actually it is important to come back and give to the game what we have got because these kids are handed down the experiences that we have gathered over 15 years. Their rate of growth becomes much faster. So that was the idea to start the academy.

VB: It took me about three to four years to find out if I really had the aptitude for coaching. Initially I did in a far off place in Tellicherry where some friends invited me for two to three weeks of coaching. Everybody feels that it's basically for the money that is involved but whether I am paid or not, for me it was more important to find out whether I can suit the workload that it required and whether I was able to communicate with the kids. I thought that I should take this as an opportunity to test my aptitude for coaching. Later on, I joined hands with LS Punjabi, who has been coaching for many years at the PS High School. I went through 45 days of summer training under him. I am sure that at that point I realised that I could go on and do something on my own and it is not necessary that I should share my coaching academy with somebody else. But I had to have a place to do it. I was a student of St. Bede's and it so happened that on a train trip with Palani, who now heads the Chennai St. Bede's foundation, I found that the school ground could be utilised for coaching. In 1993-94, the St. Bede's Foundation was started and I was the chief coach there. But even at that point of time, it was more to test whether I really had the aptitude. So it became much easier for me when I started the Guru Nanak College Turf programme in 1998, since I already had four to five years of experience.

VB: Well, those kids who have been with me have been showing a lot of improvement. Some of them have been coming through the Under-14 and Under-16 levels of the programmes that the board has. I feel that what I set out and tried to do was that I did not want the kids to suffer from the same kind of drawbacks that I had. The idea was to make sure that they do not make the same mistakes that I committed. Although I played about 13 years of first class cricket, I only played seven ODI's for India. I felt that I should have played a lot more and the reasons were many. I thought I should talk to them about these things and try and make sure that they do not commit the same mistakes as they progress in their career. To be honest, from the way things are going in the academy, I am sure I have been able to impart my knowledge to them and from the bad experiences I have had, I have been able to give them as check lists so that they could avoid making the same mistakes.

VB: Actually at the Vivekananda College, I had done a summer camp thanks to the two turf wickets that were laid at short notice. It was going along fine and I even started an annual camp. It would have been a great place to continue since it was in the heart of the city. Mylapore is an area were a lot of cricketers have come through. A lot of schools support cricket in this area. But the rules were that I could get the ground for only three months and a renewal every three months meant that I could not conduct a long standing programme. Moreover the ground was always used for some various matches and we needed a centre for nets which was exclusive for the academy. At Guru Nanak college, we could find that and thanks to the patronage of the management, we are able to carry on with the centre.

VB: I have been talking to a lot of parents and they have been telling me that their kids have not been getting enough match practice. When I started playing, it was always in the open fields and the amount of freedom that I enjoyed was not given to these kids. I felt that they are being put inside a cage all the time. The net practice can only help them for a while. I have been searching for the space for quite some time and of course it involves a lot of expense. If I had to go with a sponsor, I probably would not have my own freedom of thought and action. I decided that I should go out and find a place that is affordable even if it was a fair distance from the city. We found this place in Padupakkam and right now we are looking at housing the kids. Under one roof we could arrange other things like the psychological aspect. I have already approached Dr Rangarajan for this and then we are thinking of a dietician for them. Besides that, we would make sure that the kids see a lot of video's of their own cricket and point out what mistakes they make. Moreover, two full days out there would be easy for me to show individual attention since I have been losing out on the personal touch with them. This is one main reason to being them under one roof.

VB: It has a residential facility for the kids where about 25 trainees could actually be accommodated in a dormitory. We are looking at providing bunker beds for the kids. The structure is about 2,500 square foot. There are a couple of rooms at the ground floor which could house coaches from inside and outside the country. By this the kids can rub shoulders with other cricketers who would like to come in as coaches. There is a big cricket ground for the trainees on which we have laid nine different pitches. We are also looking at an indoor facility some time later for which the plans are underway. There would also be a library for the trainees and we would also get a lot of video replays done of old matches. I would like to introduce them to the older generation of cricketers.

VB: I think I would rather wait before I find out as to how the concept has sunk in the minds. As of now the reactions are mixed. Some have raised doubts as to how I am going to maintain it. How is he going to generate funds to get it up and running is something people have been asking. Some have said that it is an excellent concept but it cannot be done by an individual. There are a lot of things that are negative and there are also some positive responses. The travel aspect for the trainees will be taken care of by us. It is just a question of 30 or 40 minutes drive from the city.

VB: The academy has been running fairly smoothly at the Guru Nanak College. It is just a stone's throw from the cricket ground in the college, where a lot of the league and even Ranji Trophy matches are held. The Ranji players who have seen the facilities have praised it. As for the residential complex, when Roger Binny visited the complex he said "you are really ambitious." The other cricketers who visited the opening of the complex said that this is what they expected of me. A couple of people have also asked me about the standard of the coaches at the academy. We also have to think of upgrading ourselves by utilising outside help. And by outside help you need to look at Australia. From now on, not only are we going to train the kids but also our coaches.

VB: If you ask me, I would like to see a lot more youngsters utilising the facilities and taking the guidance of the several cricketers and coaches that we are planning to bring in from other places. Moreover there are six or seven other Test cricketers who are running academies across the country. So I am looking to have a link with all of them which could develop into a national network. My visions are going to be overseeing the progress of these kids.