Grounds: About eighty acres of land was available in the southern part of the campus for development as playgrounds for games and sports. The process of development was gradual, with physical inputs by the staff and students on almost daily basis. Initially, the land was cleared, fields were marked and the students started playing. Subsequently, the process of levelling, sprinkling of good clayey soil, watering and rolling, gradually transformed the complexion of the grounds. The contribution of members of the staff and students was substantial in bringing out this transformation. And by the end of November 1962, the sports complex had two four hundred metres running tracks, with exclusive areas for throws and jumps in the inner circles, six football grounds, six hockey grounds, two cricket grounds four volleyball courts, four basketball courts, four tennis courts, twelve tennicoit nets and four badminton nets. That helped us in the engagement of about eight hundred students on the grounds every day in the evenings.:
Independence Day Athletic Meet: Independence day athletic meet was an annual feature of Jodhpur Polytechnic. It provided an opportunity for mass participation of students in track and field items. There were 1000 students on rolls of the institution, divided into sections of sixty each. We used to divide them further in groups of thirty each for purposes of independence day athletic meet. Every group of thirty had an independent identity and all contests by members of the group were within the group only. As such every student was required to compete with only thirty students of his group during the meet. This was a big incentive for every student to take a chance and to participate in the events of his choice. The meet included eight track events, four events of jumps and four events of throws as individual items and two relays and tug of war as team events. Participation of a student in individual events was restricted to ten. It is always very exciting to see the students bursting out from the starting blocks in track events and then accelerating gradually, before the final dash for breasting the tape. Field events like jumps keep the people spell bound, as the students take the run and utilize the momentum for the jumps. And, it is fascinating to see the students, turning within the circle and mustering all energy for throws within the arc. Relays and tug of war provide the climax for the meet. Almost every student participated in eight to ten individual events and in some of the popular events, almost 950 students participated, out of 1000. This was the beginning of mass participation of students in athletics. After, another three to four months, students had an opportunity to rub shoulders in the institution level meet for sharpening and polishing their skills.
Games: Games provided an excellent opportunity for mass participation of students in games on a regular basis. Every group of thirty students had the freedom to select teams for different games from within the members of the group. The arrangement provided opportunities to all students to get into teams of one or more games of their liking. After initial practice games and some friendly matches, inter-group matches were arranged on a league basis during the first term. The arrangement provided tremendous inducement to the students, as most of the teams were raw and every student had a feeling, that, with little effort and practice, there were ample chances for him to excel. In course of time, the group level matches threw up a number of proficient and talented players suitable for playing at higher levels. These players found opportunities for the display of their skills during the inter-group matches. In course of time, by sheer hard work and dedication. they became star players and represented the institution in inter-polytechnic tournaments.
Inter-Polytechnic Games and Sports Meet: The first inter-polytechnic games and sports meet was held at Ajmer in 1959. Subsequent meets during 1960 and 1961 were also held at Ajmer because other polytechnics were still in the process of development of physical facilities. With the gradual development of sports complex at Jodhpur Polytechnic and mass participation of students and members of the staff in games and sports activities, everybody seemed to be keen to host the next inter-polytechnic games and sports meet at Jodhpur. There were six polytechnics functioning in the state at that time at Ajmer, Alwar, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Kota and Udaipur. All polytechnics were state government institutions. With the concurrence of all polytechnics, we picked up the opportunity to host the fourth inter-polytechnic games and sports meet at Jodhpur in December 1962. Earlier meets at Ajmer had provided tremendous learning experience and had provided substantial opportunities to the staff and students of all institutions to rub shoulders with each other, during six days of almost non-stop rivalry in games and sports and other associated activities.
On a sunny Sunday, in the third week of December 1962, the teams from polytechnics of Rajasthan were welcomed by the students and staff of Jodhpur Polytechnic and were lodged comfortably in the hostels of the institution. Independent messing facilities were provided to each team, to enable them to look after the needs of individual players in the light of hectic schedules of the energy sapping activities. Inter-institutional meets are not limited to winning or losing matches or for the award of medals and prizes and getting accolades. They provide an opportunity to the budding youngsters to have a look at energy sapping contests and to inspire them for optimum utilization of their energies and talents for the fulfillment of their nascent dreams. Everybody seemed to be keen to get a feel of the grounds and they spent hours in flexing their muscles and warm up exercises, waiting anxiously for the show to begin on the following day.
Six days from Monday to Saturday, was a mad race for everybody, chasing goals, points or runs. League cum knockout format for the games ensured, that, winners as also the losers had an opportunity to remain actively involved in the field on all days from Monday to Friday. The volunteers and news reporters introduced a lot of excitement and romance in the hotly contested ties, highlighting tumbling of the records and providing images of close encounters. The campfires in the evenings and cultural programmes and closing function on the final day were the high water marks of the week long show of physical fitness, perseverance and talent. Free mixing between members of the staff and students of polytechnics helped considerably in the development of fraternal feelings among them. Inter Polytechnic meets of 1963, 1964 and 1965 were also conducted at Jodhpur to keep the flag flying.
Mt Abu: Mt Abu is in the form of a plateau in the Aravalli range of mountains in the district of Sirohi. The highest peak of the mountain is Guru Shikhar at 1722 m (5650 ft) above sea level. Mt Abu town is a popular hill station of Rajasthan as also of Gujrat. The town stands at an elevation of 1220 m (4003 feet ) above sea level. Mt Abu has pre-historic roots and has been mentioned in Ramayan. It is also known as the land of the Gurjars. British Government took Mt Abu on lease from the ruler of Sirohi in fifteenth century. Mt Abu has a salubrious climate and is full of rivers, lakes, waterfalls and evergreen forests. The prominent places at Mt Abu are Nakki lake and Guru Shikhar. Mt Abu is also home to a large number of Hindu and Jain temples. Prominent among them are Arbuda Devi Temple, Raghunathji temple and Jain temples of Dilwara.
Games and sports coaching camps at Mt Abu: Three week games and sports coaching camps were being conducted during April/May every year by Rajasthan State Sports Council at Mt Abu for the benefit of students of academic colleges of Rajasthan, with the help of national level coaches. Since, polytechnics were new, the participation of polytechnic students in these camps was never considered. With the development of physical facilities in the polytechnics for games and sports and conduct of inter-polytechnic meets, we had a feeling that some of our promising boys should also find a place in the coaching camps sponsored by the sports council. VN Kak happened to be the vice-president of the sports council in 1962 and was responsible for the conduct of the coaching camps at Mt Abu. He was normally very rough in his dealings. When we approached him, he did not agree to allow polytechnic boys to be included in the coaching camps for college and university boys. However, he agreed to arrange a two week coaching camp, exclusively for polytechnic boys at Mt Abu in May 1963, immediately after the coaching camp of the college boys, provided, that, we provide all the coaching equipment.
Coaching camp for polytechnic boys at Mt Abu in May 1963: Principals of polytechnics were requested to sponsor suitable students for the coaching camp for polytechnic boys at Mt Abu. The students were very excited and a contingent of 40 students, handpicked from different polytechnics of Rajasthan, made it to Mt Abu in May 1963. Proper living conditions, nutrition, fitness and physical conditioning are some of the basic elements of all games and sports coaching camps. A healthy young boy may be able to perform well in most of the games and sports. However, for competitive sports, much greater effort, stamina and perseverance is needed for a sustained period and the requirements may vary widely for different games and activities. A hundred metres dash may need body conditioning for sudden burst of energy, for getting out of the starting blocks and thereafter, sufficient stamina for speedy run. A long race may need sufficient warm up to make the muscles supple, for sustaining almost uniform speed throughout the race. Games like hockey and football need speed as also stamina. The coaches choose suitable activities for warm up and body conditioning and devoted substantial time to it in the beginning. This was followed by all types of games and drills for skill training. Thereafter, rigorous practice kept going, on and on.
Boys were lodged in government secondary school building at Mt Abu, which was close to the grounds for coaching. Special messing arrangements were made to provide nutritive food to the students in conformity with their training schedules and requirements. Most of the coaches were national level coaches, including some foreigners, who were attached to the National Institute of Sports. The games included for coaching were Hockey, Football, Cricket, Volleyball, Basketball, Tennis and Badminton, apart from athletics, which included all track and field items. It was very exciting to see Major Dhyan Chand handling the boys personally on the Hockey ground with his brother Roop Singh and son Ashok Kumar. After a perspiring warm up, the boys were soon running through all types of tricky games, improvised for them, by the all time hockey greats. Basketball coach was from Phillipines. He was spending most of the time on drills for perfection of the moves and shots. A dedicated bunch of coaches drawn from National Institute of Sports, kept the students perspiring in different games. The days in the coaching camp were energy sapping. These were followed by refreshing and relaxing evening strolls on the bank roads of Nakki Lake and sumptuous dinner and campfire at night. Salubrious climate of Mt Abu, supplemented with the experience, skill and dedication of the coaches turned the brief camp into an extremely exciting and memorable affair. It was a sort of dream come true for polytechnic staff and students and provided a tremendous boost to the games and sports activities of the polytechnics.