Few of the best evenings in my life were spent along the sea shore playing beach soccer at Thiruvanmiyur beach. The chill breeze, the sound of the waves hitting the shore, the scenic moon illuminating the beach, the cushioning sands of the beach all conspire together and pull my heart and make me hit the beaches to play a wonderful game of soccer.
I am not a footballer therefore apart from watching premier leagues and world cups; I have nothing great to do with soccer. However, ever since the day I started playing beach soccer I lost myself with the game and became almost like an addict towards soccer and the love for the game has increased in me phenomenally.
The game of beach soccer:
The game starts around 8 p.m when I and my couple of like minded friends join together and knock the floor of the beach. The on-lookers who come to relax and in-take sea breeze initially looked at us crazily but when time rolled on they realized our craziness and started enjoying our amateur soccer. Some youngsters have started playing with us also. Except for playing in foot the game has our own set of simplified rules which we have devolved over time and most of them are quite crazy.
There have been instances because of poor turn outs we had only 2 persons per side and there have been instances where we have had 20 persons per side. I loved both the versions of the numbers as long the ball is being kicked and I keep running behind the ball with my heart pounding hard.
At the end of each day’s soccer:
After the 2 hours of continuous hardcore soccer I would be completely exhausted. Sometimes, I even felt that exhausted that I would like to sleep on the laps of the beaches rather than getting back to home.
However, my body and mind had a sense of satisfaction after hitting the beaches the night which followed Soccer used to be one of the best nights. After consuming whatever is there for dinner I would go to bed and sleeplike a piece of log forgetting everything else in the world. Few days back when I was sleeping I hit the wall and scored a goal and only to be realized in the morning when my leg was paining because I scored a goal in my dream against the wall.
Jogging along the lovely coast with few best buddies:
We have now started going one step ahead and started jogging along the lovely coast with the chill sea water playing around our feet. Although the jog from Thiruvanmiyur beach to Besant nagar beach is quite challenging what makes me to complete stretch is the wonderful camaraderie of my fellow joggers. There have been instances when dogs have taken a ride on us and chased us to hell but still the jog along the coast is worth every bit of hardship it throws on us. At end of completing a whooping 6 kms jog up and down on the sands of beach normally my legs will start taking steps on its own involuntarily probably, the effect after a rewarding jog.
Although the love for the game is insatiable – to be honest, I don’t know the rules properly but that does not stop me from playing soccer; I run behind balls although most of the time I am unsuccessful getting the ball into my control and I try defending and hitting goals which most of the time land in opposition legs. Yes, I am not a soccer player but I love playing beach soccer.
Happy Playing,
Durai Murugan