Father’s Day 2020: How long jumper Sreeshankar Murali’s father shaped his career

On a hot September morning in Bhubaneswar, Sreeshankar’s father Murali had told his son to make some technical adjustments that helped him break the national record.

 

New Delhi(Agencies): At the mere age of 19, long-jumper Sreeshankar Murali broke the national record at the 58th National Open Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar with a jump of 8.20m. Moments after the massive milestone, the Kerala athlete was seen being hurled by his father at the podium. The moment, Sreeshankar believes was one of the best ones he has shared with his father.

 “The one special memory that we have together is the day when I broke the national record in the long jump. That day, I remember I was not physically well to compete because I had heat stroke issues the previous day. And the technique of my jumps was really bad as I was barely able to stand up,” he tells Hindustan Times in a telephonic conversation.

S. Murali, Sreeshankar’s father, who was an international triple-jumper himself, has been with Sreeshankar throughout his young athletics career. He has coached the long jumper himself since he started developing interest in the sport. On that hot Thursday, September morning in Bhubaneswar, Murali told his son to make some technical adjustments that helped him break the national record.

 “My father just told me let’s go to the ground. We’ll see what happens. He made minute technical corrections in my jumping approach, and it proved to be the key reason why I was able to get the national record,” Sreeshankar says.

 “When it comes to the competition area, he is the kind of mastermind with all the technical knowledge he knows. He adjusted everything so that I could click the right jump at the right place. That was quite pivotal,” he further adds.

Sreeshankar, now 21, has been training for the past few months under his father at his hometown in Palakkad, Kerala, amid the nationwide lockdown in place due to Covid-19 pandemic. With a limited set of equipment available, the father-son duo worked on Sreeshankar’s core strength and mobility training.

 “During the lockdown time, the main training we focused on were strength training, core strengthening, and mobility aspects. We could shift all the weight training equipment from our track to our homes. I also got a small stretcher space at my home, so that I can have my workouts in a proper way,” he says.

 “The only thing that was lacking was the technical aspects regarding the jumps and the jump training, and the speed-related jumps training.”

The long jumper, who is heavily seen as a medal prospect for India by the 2024 Olympics, recalls that it was his parents, who got himself interested in track-and-field. Sreeshankar belongs to a family of athletes. His mother K. S. Bijimol was an 800m sprinter, and his sister Sreeparvathy is a heptathlete.

 “It was through my father and mother I developed an interest in track and field sport. As a young kid, he used to take me to the ground, I used to enjoy playing with him and running with him. So I gradually developed an interest in track-and-field sport, more than anything else,” he says.

 “Being a former international triple jumper, he trained under many coaches all across the country, and several coaches abroad. So, he knows what it takes to develop an athlete in a proper way. He has been building the foundational blocks of my training gradually year-by-year,” Sreeshakar adds.