Most students find it hard to balance one sport, but Diya Siraj from Bishop Cottons Girls’ School juggled two along with her studies. The State-level basketball and cricket player secured 85% in her ISC board examination. She has represented the State in several national-level basketball tournaments since 2014 in under-13, under-16, under-18, and women’s categories. “I missed a majority of the classes while in these tournaments, and it was hard to keep up. If I had practice in the morning, I had to stay up at night to study. I had to sacrifice sleep to balance both academics and sports,” she said.
Evangeline Sharon Bhuvana, a State-level athlete from Bishop Cotton Girls’ School, secured 86.9% in the ISC board examination. “I started studying a month before my boards and remained focussed. I also made sure to take breaks to not burden myself,” she said. She won the individual championship, representing the State in the CICSE championship in Pune. She was also selected for the Khelo India Youth Games 2019 for athletics. She wants to major in history at the undergraduate level.
Smaran R., captain of the Karnataka Under-16 cricket team and a student of Ebenezer International School, secured 92% in his ICSE examination and scored a centum in history and civics as well as in physical education. His school helped him by rescheduling examinations and providing notes. During his boards, his teachers coached him in mathematics and French. “He studied long hours every day, right before the board examinations to compensate for the time he missed,” said his father Ravichandran S.
A dancer, Nitin Shakthee S. of Tunbridge High School, scored 80% in his ICSE examination. He has been practising Bharatanatyam since he was three-and-a-half years old, and won the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Child Prodigy. “I studied for my boards through the day and dance helped me relax when I was stressed.” He also sings and plays the mridangam.