"Before my final race at the sub- junior nationals in Goa, I was very tense. I just kept thinking that I had to cut three seconds and how could I do it. I was set up against guys who were champions, training for years and I had just started,” says 11-year-old swimmer Varun Patel of Bombay. "I somehow managed to gather my thoughts and focused on myself, what I was capable of and followed the advice of my coach. After winning the bronze in the 100 m breast stroke, I was absolutely elated and couldn’t get over the fact that I had actually cut off three seconds in one day!” Varun was the fourth seed in the finals, explains his mother Khushnam. "He followed his coach’s strategy to a T and managed to get a wonderful time of 1:23:68. When he was told his time he couldn’t believe it and I guess beating the demons in his mind was a bigger victory. Watching him touch third was one of the greatest joys of our life.”
Varun Patel (extreme left): first national medal
As a child Varun loved to get into the pool, never showing the fear that a three-year-old usually feels, continues Khushnam. "He would somehow manage to get underwater, hold his breath and swim away. It was quite amusing! Seeing his love for water and comfort level, we decided that formal training was required. At the age of four, we got him enrolled at the Police Pool at Worli where training standards were very high and the coaches pretty strict.” "My dad Yazad and mum wanted me to take up a sport. For a long time I did try out skating, tennis and other sports but I was not so interested in them,” explains Varun, who studies at the Bombay Scottish School at Mahim. "Initially swimming seemed fine, but once workouts started getting tough I felt tired, missed TV time and playing on the computer, so I felt disinterested again. But my parents kept encouraging me and I eventually did start enjoying it.”
Losing his first mentor, coach Gajanan, to cancer was a setback and Varun moved for training to the Cricket Club of India (CCI). The regimen is rigorous! Waking up at 4.45 a.m. the schoolboy reaches the Tata Pool at Chembur by 5.30 for morning workouts. At 7.30, he has to be ready for school, with breakfast in the car! Workouts at CCI consume the evenings; followed by homework and bed by 9.15 p.m. "Varun has been training from January this year at the CCI under Anup Radhakrishnan. We have observed not only a massive improvement in his swimming and fitness but also in his mental make-up, focus and enthusiasm,” declares Khushnam. "Anup Sir is a hard taskmaster but his words of encouragement and praise make the stiff workouts worth the effort. He has immense reserves of patience which Varun did his best to push!”
At the Greater Mumbai Amateur Aquatic Association district level meet, the lad won gold in the 100 m breast stroke and silver in the same event at the Maharashtra state meet in Poona in June, thus qualifying for the all-India event in Goa. "I am a lot more disciplined, waking up and sleeping on time. Junk food is junk (yet I love that junk)! I eat a lot healthier but I do beg for a samosa once in a while and depending on my mother’s mood may end up getting it! In moments of nervousness I try to be positive and get my mom to visualize and talk to me or discuss my fears with my parents. Anup Sir always knocks on his head and says ‘Varun, it’s all in here.’ This exercise has raised my confidence. I find it exciting to set goals and feel good when I achieve them.” The lack of free time has been compensated, says his mother, by a "fantastic set of swim buddies. Many of them are older and have taken him under their wing and egged him on through some tough days. The important thing is that Varun remains humble through his successes. The last win is over and soon forgotten. It is the future that holds promise.”