"Strength of Bangalore team - speed and smartness" - Interview with Navaneeth "Chamber" Shanta, Wide Receiver, Bangalore Warhawks

Navaneeth Shanta, Wide Receiver, Bangalore Warhawks (foreground) in a sprint with Roshan Lobo, Running Back, Bangalore Warhawks in training

What in your opinion was the main strength of the Bangalore Warhawks?

I think the strength of the Bangalore team lay in its speed and smartness. Like I said earlier, we all looked small in comparison to some of the players from the other teams, nobody gave us a chance. But then, when we started playing, people were shocked. We lost just one game in the league before the semis, that was to Pune.

Do you think that the different backgrounds that all of you came from had a role in that?

Absolutely. Each one of us came from different backgrounds. Like, I was from football, Lobo was from rugby, then we had couple of guys from basketball, volleyball, throwball and other footballers also. Overall, I just think it was a great squad and I think the scouting team did a great job of picking up players from such a varied background each with different skill sets.

Our team was loaded with pace, we had electric pave.We were one of the paciest teams in the league.

What was the most memorable game for you from the first season?

I think it would have to be that game against Pune, though we lost. That game I played with a fever. Despite thatI battled through and played. I scored a touchdown and converted the field goal as well.

I also had an interception and had I been at 100%, I would have converted that into a touchdown. But since I was battling a fever, 30 yards in, I was panting and the Pune Running Back was a national level athlete; he was super quick and he caught up with me and tackled me.

The games apart, what other great memories do you have from the first season?

The time we spent in Sri Lanka was a lot of fun. Though we competed hard on the fields, we got to meet and socialize with a lot of players from the other teams. I made some really good friends, especially from the Mumbai and Delhi teams. We hung out a lot and roamed around Colombo together. Guys like Viraj from Mumbai and Sarib from Delhi were my regular companions when we went about exploring the city and on night outs.

And finally what about this nickname of yours, “Chamber”, how did that come about?

(Laughs) That’s a really old story, going back to my school and early college days. I used to do professional stunting on bikes, and I used to bring this Kinetic at the time, and it had a chamber in it. So one of my friends from stunting, who didn’t know my name, starting calling me “Chamber” because of my Kinetic.

It kind of stuck on. He was from Christ College, from that time on all these Christ guys started calling me“Chamber”. And then I used to go for night outs in my Kinetic, so again the name “Chamber” kind of just spread around.

Sometimes on the phone, whenever I introduced myself as ‘Navaneeth’, everybody would be like, “Navaneeth who?”My dad used to get really mad when friends used to call and ask for Chamber, he used to tell them I have a name and that they should use it; same for when my friends came to my doorstep and called me out by the name “Chamber”.

But then I came on Ten Sports, as Chamber, so then he slowly accepted it and of course more and more people started calling me Chamber. Then I came on CNN-IBN, MTV, since I was doing stunting for 3-4 years and even there made my appearance under the name ‘Chamber’. So yes, that’s the history behind the name.