Hockey in Villages
It’s 5:30 am on a Summer day in Singhpora , a small village about 65 km from capital Srinagar. I have just got up, tied my patka, pick up the hockey stick, put on old sneakers and ran off at full speed towards the village hockey field which is about 1.5 km from my house. I am scared that if I am the last one to get there, coach will punish me with 5 extra laps of the field with 20 push ups and I will miss half of the playing time.
This was the routine of every youngster (who played hockey) in my village every morning of the summer. We would play with our seniors every morning up to 7’o clock and come home. Have our breakfast and off to School. Hockey was everything for us. We had passion for Singhpora Sports Club. Until I went to University, this was the routine for every summer.
Hockey in villages is very different to hockey in towns. Playing hockey in villages is more of a social. Some people do take it seriously, and that is mainly to get a job in Army, Police and other government sectors who have hockey teams. This is the one of the major draw card for the boys who are not good at studies but can play some serious hockey. As an example of my own family, my uncle who represented the state and is known to be the best Left Half ever produced by the state, got job in Auditor General’s office as a hockey player who can represent the office. There are hundreds of other examples, where people got jobs in Police, Para military force, State Transport, Banks and many more sectors as hockey players.
There are no Synthetic turfs in villages, so it’s grass pitch which is not always 100% flat. The control that you get while playing on grass can naturally double when you play on smooth surface. You can stop the ball better and with a control it better, but the speed of the ball can be deceptive.
Going back to the hockey in villages: the coach is usually the eldest person in the team and yes, he can swear and can call anyone with any name. He has the authority. During practice one team play without tops/shirts to differentiate between the two teams.
The tournaments usually are played in the cities and towns and journey to the game is more like a picnic trip, always full of fun. But the games are always hot tempered as there is always too much on stake. No one wants to get beaten by other side. At the end of the game, handshakes and friendly banters can be seen between few people but not to all as some people do take hockey very seriously.
By Hardeep Rai
It’s 5:30 am on a Summer day in Singhpora , a small village about 65 km from capital Srinagar. I have just got up, tied my patka, pick up the hockey stick, put on old sneakers and ran off at full speed towards the village hockey field which is about 1.5 km from my house. I am scared that if I am the last one to get there, coach will punish me with 5 extra laps of the field with 20 push ups and I will miss half of the playing time.
This was the routine of every youngster (who played hockey) in my village every morning of the summer. We would play with our seniors every morning up to 7’o clock and come home. Have our breakfast and off to School. Hockey was everything for us. We had passion for Singhpora Sports Club. Until I went to University, this was the routine for every summer.
Hockey in villages is very different to hockey in towns. Playing hockey in villages is more of a social. Some people do take it seriously, and that is mainly to get a job in Army, Police and other government sectors who have hockey teams. This is the one of the major draw card for the boys who are not good at studies but can play some serious hockey. As an example of my own family, my uncle who represented the state and is known to be the best Left Half ever produced by the state, got job in Auditor General’s office as a hockey player who can represent the office. There are hundreds of other examples, where people got jobs in Police, Para military force, State Transport, Banks and many more sectors as hockey players.
There are no Synthetic turfs in villages, so it’s grass pitch which is not always 100% flat. The control that you get while playing on grass can naturally double when you play on smooth surface. You can stop the ball better and with a control it better, but the speed of the ball can be deceptive.
Going back to the hockey in villages: the coach is usually the eldest person in the team and yes, he can swear and can call anyone with any name. He has the authority. During practice one team play without tops/shirts to differentiate between the two teams.
The tournaments usually are played in the cities and towns and journey to the game is more like a picnic trip, always full of fun. But the games are always hot tempered as there is always too much on stake. No one wants to get beaten by other side. At the end of the game, handshakes and friendly banters can be seen between few people but not to all as some people do take hockey very seriously.
By Hardeep Rai
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