Talk with an official

On Saturday, I went to meet a Hockey professional, who happens to be a good friend of mine.

An entirely personal visit it was supposed to be. (I didn’t know that I will be keen to write about it, after coming back.)

But, towards the end, as I was about to leave, my friend took me to certain officials and introduced me to them. He went to tell them that I am doing voluntary work for the development of Hockey.

Although I had no intentions of meeting the officials but here I was presenting what “One Thousand Hockey Legs” project is all about.

Here comes to the most interesting part:As I told that we recently concluded a Summer Camp in Pondicherry, an official (let’s call them Official 1) asked another one (let’s call them Official 2), “Do you know about it?”

Apparently, Official 2 is from Pondicherry.

Here’s the boomer.

Official 2 immediately starts off, goes on and on leaving no stones unturned telling Official 1 how we have:

1) Ignored Government schools from our schemes of things.

2) Taken help of non-technical people to run the show in Pondicherry.Official 1 was smart enough to correct Official 2, “Your approach is not the best one. They are doing voluntary work. You should first appreciate their work. Then you should sit with them and talk to them conveying things that you both can work upon. If you behave this way, they will not get back to you at all.”

I tried giving assurances like, “You can call me. We can discuss later.”

But no assurance, no counter argument could stop Official 2.May be they were looking for some brownie points with the other officials.

Anyhow, that doesn’t matter.

The answer, to those questions, from my side:

1) We do have 2 Government schools with us. To get the Government schools to tie up with us, we need to go through Director (Education). Our proposal was put to them, back in December.

2) Hockey is being taught by Hockey coaches.Honestly speaking, I got a taste (may be, very little) of what Hockey administration is about.

Later on, during a discussion, a close friend of mine, a Hockey professional, shared a few words of wisdom, “Be careful. Submissiveness is not humility, here.”

Friedrich Nietzsche quotes,

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

KPS Gill rates Azlan Shah victory of little consequence

KPS Gill, the ousted Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) President who is fighting a court case after his Federation was suspended by IOA, last year, never ceases to be in news.
For larger section of newspapers, it doesn't matter what he says. For some, it still does.
Recently KPS Gill said, "This win is not worth much. There was no formidable team in competition. This win will neither help the team psychologically against top teams nor for regional competitions like the upcoming Asia Cup."

I can agree to one fact that there were not many top ranked teams in the competition. Pakistan team is already struggling with it's quality of the team. Black Sticks were the only team which have a World Hockey presence but they still are lower ranked.
However, this fact cannot undermine another fact, i.e. India won the Azlan Shah Cup. One cannot take away that credit from them. A win, be it against the minnows, is always a confidence booster. Yes, a win against some top ranked teams can give you a different level of confidence.

Had India lost the tournament (although being a fan, I never wanted that), I would be keen to hear what the critics would have to say? If they would have had criticism at that time, they can't have the same on a win! :)

Apart from that, I feel that Mr. KPS Gill ruled Hockey for more than ?13? years, he should give minimum 1+3=4 years to really assess that another administration is actually spoiling it or doing it better than him!
You can't comment on someone's performance in just a year! .. Come on, Gill saheb, let's stand by our team and, for one moment, leaving aside everything and congratulate them! :)

India wins Azlan Shah Cup 2009

After a gap of 14 years, India won Sultan Azlan Shah Cup '09 version.
India beat Malaysia in the final, 3-1.
India's journey in the tournament:
India v Egypt: 2-2 Draw
India v Malaysia: 3-0 India won
India v Newzealand: 2-2 Draw
India v Pakistan: 2-1 India won
India v Malaysia: Finals India won by 3-1.
Great news!
Keep going like this!
Congratulations to all the players and their coach, Harendra Singh.

Hockey Lesson from IPL

Question: Why Hockey is in such a state as it is today?
Answer 1: Because of Person A, Person B,.. who killed it.
Answer 2: Because of State Government
Answer 3: Because of Central Government.
Answer 4: Because of xyz State Association.
Answer 5: Because of abc Governing Body (authority).
Answer 6: Because of corrupt officials.
Answer 7: Because of self-obsessed former Hockey Players.
Answer 8: Because of impartial (read it, harsh) treatment metted out to Indian Hockey.
Answer 9: Because of no sponsors coming in support of Hockey.
Answer 10: Because of Hockey being played on turf.

Today's dailies read, after weeks of negotiation with the Union Home Ministry, IPL will be conducted in some outside country.
Reason: IPL organizers are united on the fact that at General Elections time, they all in consensus that internal security is very important. However, they don't want the tournament (and viewers) to suffer because of that.

Be neutral to both Cricket and Hockey, tell me (with reason) whom should I salute?

Don't divert my attention when India wins...

There is no better moment than to see India win a Hockey match and that too convincingly.

Yesterday, India beat Germany 2-0 with the custodian Baljeet Singh being honoured as the man of the match.

I cheered from my living room when I saw Indian guys running around after the match. One of most happy evenings for me, in the past few days!

Brilliant work, by the whole team and not to be forgotten, the coach, Harendra Singh. Somehow, I feel that Harendra Singh doesn't seem to seeing any bias between the players and just plays the one who is good.

However, I feel there is a something that our system needs to look at.

Disclaimer: I have got nothing personal to do with anyone and nor do I know the dynamics between the coach and the selectors.

My contention is simple:

Lashing back at others, does it help? You may yes, the selector has been made to shut up! The selector must be thinking how long does the victory spree last for?

So, you win, you give him one! .. and then he waits for another opportunity to give you back one. The media gets spice and it's all over the newspapers once again. Outsider fans like me, feel, "How does it ever change?"

According to me, the victory speaks volumes for itself. People who never believed in you anyway don't know where to take their faces now! So, telling them this explicitely, takes away few moments from the glorious attention that this special occasion of beating World Champions, Germany, demands.

If you ask me, the coach in the Press Conference could have talked about who have shown belief in him thereby making a positive gesture his supporters rather than bringing up people who hardly contributed anything to this victory.

Also, there is another side to it. Had someone not shown disbelief in you, you wouldn't have had the hunger and desperation to prove them wrong.

I feel and believe: The best way to treat your disbelievers is to committ to prove them wrong and then ignore them altogether. You move on and thereby, you push the whole generation to think forward and ignore what is irrelevant.

Meet: Indian Hockey's Double, Triple Olympian...

Meeting various people from circles of Indian Hockey, the most common introduction I have had is: Here is Mr. XYZ, who played World Cup of 19xx or Olympics of Barcelona or Syndey or Athens.

Absolutely no doubt that representing the India's Hockey team at Olympics or World Cup is the biggest honour for any sportsman in this country.
I sometimes wonder that this kind of introduction is reflection of complacency that has slowly crept in our whole system...

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