Young athlete makes waves, wins big at national level

A student of The Trinity School, Hoshiarpur, Armaan Masih stands out as he has got selected for the School Games Federation of India in not one but two sports disciplines. Armaan has made it to the national level for basketball as well as swimming.

Son of former, water polo player and All India gold medalist sub-inspector Alic Masih, Armaan says that he has been into swimming since 2017 when he was a class III student in the school. “My father, who serves in the Punjab Police, has been my coach. My entire family including my paternal uncle and cousins have been into water polo. But I do freestyle swimming.”

Almost six feet in height, Armaan says that it was the director-principal of his school, Anita Lawrence, who handpicked him for basketball. “Since then, I have been into both the games. In days when swimming season is on, I have a long day. I have to reach the service club swimming pool by 4 am. I practise there till 6 am. I return home, take my diet and get ready for my school. We have a basketball practice session in the school daily till 9 am. I go back home at 3 pm, take my diet and relax for a while. There is a swimming session again from 6 pm to 8.30 pm. In winters, it is a bit relaxed schedule as my day starts two hours late at 6 am and there is no evening session also”, he said.

Armaan says being a part of two sports at the same time means a lot of hard work. “I also have to do running, weight training and conditioning. I need to take care of my diet too. I am a vegetarian. I take milk thrice a day. I follow the diet plan given to me my coach Aman sir”, said the boy, who resides at Police Lines in Hoshiarpur.

Director-Principal of The Trinity School Anita Lawrence commended Armaan for his dual feat, “It was a rigorous selection process that he had to go through for both basketball and swimming. He alone managed 30 out of 55 baskets for his team in the selection match held at St Stephen’s School, Meerut. He was the only one from North India to make it for basketball for the nationals. The trials for swimming were held in Delhi, wherein there were swimmers from Chandigarh, Ludhiana. Four swimmers got selected including Armaan.”

She added, “The school gives all the support that the budding players need including diet in the form of soya milk etc. Our teachers give extra time to the players since they have to miss their classes for trials and tournaments. They get all the notes and study material they require. We treat them like the ‘Gems of The Trinity’. They are often more disciplined, well-behaved and less distracted than the other children of their age group. The school takes pride in having brought out international badminton player like Tanvi Sharma and now Armaan Masih.”