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Survival has been a struggle for Sushila Ekka who has had to fight poverty and follow her passion of slam-dunking basketball to make a living. The young girl was a regular player in the Howrah district basketball team from where she has been selected to play national level tournaments. She started playing for the district when she was only 11 years old, a year after she started training under coach Alok Banerjee at Dumurjala Stadium.

“Sir (Alok Banerjee) had come to our school, Batore Adivasi Samaj School, and had told us that if anyone was interested in playing basketball, he or she should go to him. At that time, I was young and I had no idea about basketball. I went to play at Dumurjala and there I saw that this was a new kind of game that I had never seen before,” said Sushila. Prior to this, Sushila had no idea about any kind of sports and games. Living in poverty where her father, Lorenthis Ekka, is a labourer in a rolling mill and mother, Serophina Ekka, is a domestic help, Sushila’s prime interest was to get a job through sports quota. “I started to like the game and would practise as much as possible. My coach sent me to the district sub-junior tournament after a year from where I was selected for the state and national tournaments,” said Sushila.

She played her first national game in the West Bengal team in 2004. The team had won eighth position and Sushila was noticed for her performance as the playmaker in the five-member team. This year, the state team did not fare
well in the national tournament, but Sushila had still performed well. Sushila’s dream of landing a job came true two years back when she got a job in the electrical division of Eastern Railways. She joined the Railways basketball team and her coach, Satya Pattanaik, has always encouraged her to play well.

“Sir (Pattanaik) inspires me to play and has helped me in many ways. Before joining the Railways team, I would train under him and he ensured that I got all facilities, like jersey, ball and other accessories,” said Sushila. Before joining Eastern Railways, Sushila had also worked as games teacher in a private school. “I needed to earn a living to run the family expenses as well as my own. My parents would not be able to afford my expenses for playing basketball,” said Sushila. Although, she likes the game a lot, Sushila does not like to watch the big international teams playing on TV. “I have heard of the National Basketball Association in USA, but I have never watched them on TV. Also, I prefer watching games live than on television,” said Sushila.

Sushila has travelled across the country to play in various tournaments and invitation matches. Earlier this year, she went to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu to play for an invitation match. There too, Sushila bagged the best playmaker award. “I have won several best playmaker awards in the past few years within West Bengal. The awards always inspire me to play better,” said Sushila.

She practises every morning at the basketball court in Calcutta Maidan, before going to work. However, her goals are more oriented towards her job than making it big in the game. “I have to practise a lot because I want to perform well. Only then will I get a promotion,” she said. Sushila also plans to study further. “I did not study after Class X because I wanted to play basketball. But now I think it would be better to complete higher studies so that I can get better job prospects,” she said.

MORE ABOUT SUSHILA

DoB: September 2, 1992
Born in: Howrah
Education: Class X
Family: Parents, two brothers
Loves: Singing
Hates: Backbiting

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta, India / Front Page> Howrah> Story / Friday – June 19th, 2015