Girls from Sarakhadi rule women's volleyball

SURAT: Shilpa Vala, (25) is a national volleyball player from small village of Sarakhadi in Kodinar block of Gir-Somnath district. She is pursuing MPhil in physical education from Hemchandracharya University with a hope that she will get a good job in the state government.
Twenty-year-old Parita Vala from the same village wants to become a volleyball coach.She too has represented India.
These are not the isolated cases, but there are four such girls from this small village with 5,000-odd population who have represented India. There are 30 other girls who are playing national-level tournaments in different categories.
Sarakhadi has built up a reputation of producing large number of national-level women volleyball players.
Some of these girls are participating in the 64th Senior Gujarat State Volleyball Championship here. All of them attribute their success to consistent training, hard work and their coach Varjang Vala.
Talking to TOI Shilpa, who could not afford sports shoes to play the game till she passed class XII, said, "We don't have a running track in our village. So, we all run six km daily on road."
"We are what we are due to daily practice and training of our coach," said another national player Geeta Vala.
In 1975-76, girls from this village participated in volleyball tournament for the first time. They played the game wearing traditional chaniya and chudlo (top).
It was in 2012 that Sports Authority of Gujarat (SAG) set up a centre for excellence in their village and now they have proper court and other facilities.
Parita Vala, another national player and daughter of Varjang Vala, said, "Initially, only boys used to play the game. They excelled and got jobs in military, police and other departments. Some opted for higher studies, but we girls kept on playing in the village as we were not allowed to go out of village."
Today every girl from Sarakhadi starts going to volleyball court from the age of six. "We have nearly 1,250 houses in the village but there is hardly any house from where girls are not playing volleyball in school ground," says Shilpa.
Gujarat women's volleyball team has jumped from 16th spot to 5th position in span of five years. These girls say they can be champions, if they get better facilities in their village.