Shrewsbury – This past fall, sixth-grade students at the Sherwood Middle School participated in a special journalism project. Under the direction of their teachers, Moira Cristy, Douglas Kershaw and Jordan Smith, the students identified a person from Shrewsbury that they thought would make an interesting profile, then conducted an interview and wrote a brief feature. We will be sharing some of those profiles in the coming months.
Appoorva Muralinth
By Aaesha Mahurkar
Photo/submitted
Shrewsbury – Coach Appoorva Muralinth is the Assistant Director at Central Massachusetts Fundamental Basketball, which is an AAU club team. She is an amazing coach.
She originally started her career in basketball watching her dad, who is an Olympic basketball player. Appoo’s entire family played basketball. She was the youngest child out of four and learned from her older siblings and, especially, her father. He inspired her to start playing basketball and carry on the tradition.
Her first experience was around 4th grade in a school game. From that point on, she realized her “love for basketball” and decided to keep playing for the rest of her life. Little did she know how far she would get.
Appoo made it all the way to the Indian National team. She said, it was “more than fun.”
“It was a big responsibility because, when you play for the Indian National team, you are representing your country.”
She played on the Indian National team for four years. She started playing on the team in 2012 and left in 2016. During those years, she earned many national titles, awards, and medals.
In her time on the Indian National team Appoo played in the post, which is the person who stand directly under the basket and protects the hoop on defense. During our conversation she didn’t brag about all the awards, instead she said how has used her experience to teach kids.
After she finished playing on the Indian National team, she continued basketball as a coach. She explored and coached at many different basketball club teams until she found the right fit at CMF basketball. She stated that she has “certain rules and ethics in basketball” and that “CMF fit all of the rules and ethics.” Examples of some rules and ethics are respect and always working hard.
Appoo decided to switch to coaching “on the go” because she loves kids and seeing them. She also loves to “teach kids the basic fundamentals of basketball, and see them grow as players.” Even though Appoo started coaching “on the go” she thought it was “a very different side of things because she is usually the player.”
She picked up coaching fast because she knows the game by heart. Coach Appoo now uses her experience to help kids become better basketball players.
