Taking the longer route towards excellence

Bengaluru: For head coach Shreesh Reddy, his student is a ‘monster at training’. For father Sridhara S N, his son is ‘self-motivated and disciplined’. 

Five continuous years of the 14-year-old Sharan S not missing a single training session isn’t the lone reason for the compliments from the two men the teen looks up to.

“He (Sharan) challenges me as a coach,” says Shreesh, a former international swimmer and the program director at Matsya Incorporation - an aquatics club in Bengaluru. 

“He keeps me on my toes to plan new training programmes, refine them regularly because he keeps acing it all and is always eager to grow as a swimmer. Very few young athletes have this drive. And that’s why I call him a monster,” adds the coach who spotted Sharan’s potential as an 8-year-old when he was under foundation coach Dasharath at the academy.

A closer look at the state and national swim meets over the last four years will give you a sense that Shreesh’s praise for his ward is not glorified. Sharan, who began competing in 2019, is a regular on the podium, often walking away with multiple gold medals in the sub-junior and junior categories. 

The 10th grade student at the Jain Heritage School, Kempapura in Hebbal first entered the pool at school (Matsya runs in its premises) as a 4-year-old and began as a multi-stroke swimmer during his initial competitive years. However, over time Sharan developed a flair for long-distance swimming with the 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle races as his pet events now. 

“I chose long-distance swimming because I like endurance challenges and maintaining a steady pace,” offers Sharan.

“It’s not just about speed, but also involves conserving energy and using efficient strokes to cover large distances. Every lap teaches me something about patience and resilience, even when it gets tough,” explains the sub-junior 400m freestyle national record-holder which he set in 2022 before he re-wrote the sub-junior 800m freestyle state mark in 2023. 

The flutter he has managed to create in the pool so far was loud enough for the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) to take notice and include Sharan’s name in their first-ever ‘National Talent Pool’ (NTPD) programme aimed at training future prospects with the 2032 Brisbane Olympics in mind. The Bengaluru boy is one among nearly 30 promising swimmers from across India who will undergo training in three separate camps in a calendar year, all of them sponsored by SFI. 

“We are currently in a pre-high-altitude training camp at the Jain International Residential School (Kanakapura Road) for a week before heading to Armenia for a three-week camp in the city of Tsaghkadzor under coach Chris Martin,” says Sharan.

This journey of their son developing into a well-rounded person through sports is what techie father Sridhara and gynecologist mother Dr Laxmi are most proud of, they admit. 

“His day begins at 4 am and ends at 7 pm. Sport has taught him discipline, time management and the understanding of what is required to be a top swimmer. We are more than happy to support all his dreams,” says Sridhara.  

The culture of producing quality swimmers is deep rooted in Karnataka. And Sharan is an amalgamation of technical finesse and the zeal to win which makes the youngster another good prospect to keep the legacy of the sport in the state intact. 

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