In land of football, hockey takes baby steps as it gets into a school curriculum

Panaji: There was delight all around as six- and seven-year-olds lined up at the school ground with hockey sticks in their hand, some taller than them.
They were all students of Class 1 and Class II at the Fr. Agnel Multipurpose Primary School, Verna. Backed by two Olympians -- Mervyn Fernandis, gold medallist at 1980 Moscow, and Joaquim Carvalho, also former India coach – the school has launched an ambitious programmme that sees hockey being integrated into the curriculum for the first time in Goa, where football is the state sport.
The 90-odd students are part of the first batch of this programme which will allow them to learn the sport during the physical training (PT) period.
“We understand it is difficult for students to come after school (hours) to learn the fine skills of hockey, given the fact they are busy with a mirage of other things, so we thought of integrating the hockey training in the school curriculum,” said Fr. Agnelo Gomes, director of the Agnel Technical Education Complex. “We are also hoping to lay a hockey turf with the help of sponsors and well-wishers.”
Fr Gomes is the brain behind the landmark initiative at the Fr. Agnel Multipurpose Primary School. It all started with a phone call to former India player and coach Joaquim Carvalho, with the proposal to collaborate and start a grassroots programme at the school.
Carvalho jumped at the idea to help the sport in Goa and then brought Fernandis, a gold-medal winning Olympian, on board. Both Olympians have their roots in the state and want to see the sport progress.
“We want more Olympians coming out from Goa,” Fernandis said in his address to the students during the launch programme. “It might take time for us to enjoy the fruits (of this initiative) but we are convinced it will definitely happen. In the long run, we will surely have some players coming out from Goa.”
The school children with hockey sticks in their hands reminded Fernandis of his own school days at the Fatima High School in Ambernath, run by the Pilar Fathers.
“A few of us who were interested in hockey went and told the priests that we would like to field a team at the inter-school tournament. I was as big as the hockey stick. Who knew at that time that I would be one day playing for my country and even winning an Olympic gold medal,” recalled Fernandis, who won gold at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow as a 21-year-old.
Fr Gomes said they decided to start with the six-year-olds because it was the best time to teach them the correct basics and then make a strong push to turn world beaters.
“They say we have to ‘catch them young’ and this is as young as it gets,” said Fr. Gomes. “Normally, the tendency is to start coaching at ages 12 and 13 (for under-14 tournaments in schools) but at this stage it’s already too late (for basics). Hockey is the only sport we have dominated in the Olympics till they changed the format and the surface of the game. Today, however, we are on mission to change that, especially in Goa.”
Fernandis and Carvalho are among the legends of Indian hockey with the former winning gold at the Moscow Olympics and two silver medals at the Asian Games. Carvalho, part of the Indian team at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, won silver at the Delhi Asiad and later coached the national team.