Jini helped the Kerala Volleyball team complete a hat-trick of title wins, on the back of excellent performances.
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The Kerala Women’s Volleyball team recently registered a hat-trick of titles in the National Senior Volleyball Championship, which is a historic achievement. Jini KS was the leader of the side in the most recent triumph, and has been a vital contributor since 2015. She hails from a small town in the district of Ernakulam called Chendamangalam. Jini has represented India at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and hopes to do the same in 2022. She discussed Kerala’s historic run in an exclusive chat, taking us through some fine details.
Firstly, I am very happy to be part of such a historic achievement. Recording a hat-trick of National Senior titles is a very difficult thing. We are very pleased. It’s a result of the hard work we have put in as a team.
I have been a part of the senior team since 2015. From 2015 to 2018, we finished second-best to the Railways. I feel that the difference since 2018 has been that we play more as a team.
Each player has tried hard to minimize individual mistakes, and we have improved a lot in the reception and attacking side of the game. All these factors made a vital difference.
Yes. I play for Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), with nearly seven players in the state team playing for them as well. I am a setter, so I know how the attackers will attack and their strengths, weaknesses. Therefore, there is no need to make too many adjustments coming into the Kerala team.
So, whenever we train and play in the department games and practice matches, the coaches always ask us to play as if we were taking on the Railways. The coaching staff always makes us feel comfortable, focuses on our positives and highlights the weaknesses of the Railways. All these things help a lot.
Since the lockdown, we have been inside our homes for almost three months. As far as the KSEB players were concerned, our coach had given us an at-home workout plan to follow. We all implemented that and tried our best to keep ourselves as fit as possible.
Injuries are a part of the game, to a certain extent. We cannot do anything about it. The players who had slight niggles trained in such a way that it did not exaggerate their injuries. Our coach Dr Sadanandan C.S. used such players very effectively and gave them ample time to recover as per the rotation policy. Therefore we weren’t affected by injuries too much.
Since his arrival, this is the fifth consecutive title we have won. Sir hasn’t made too many changes in the way we play, since we were already reaching the finals consistently. It was just the final hurdle we needed to cross.
He would tell us about the small mistakes we were making, helping us rectify them. That helped a lot in improving our game. His coaching style is very good as he always makes us very comfortable, and communicates very well with the team.
There are a lot of facilities and opportunities coming up compared to my school days. It is up to the youngsters to grab the opportunities and utilize the facilities as much as they can.
Many foreign countries are much more advanced and superior than us. We are slowly moving forward in the right direction. Hopefully, we can achieve greater heights in the future.
Representing the Indian women’s volleyball team in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta has been the best point of my career so far. I would like to play in the 2022 Asian Games and help the team finish strongly.
