Bengaluru:
Every morning at the crack of dawn, rain or shine, the children from St Mary’s Orphanage forget their woes and cares as they troop out onto the field brandishing their hockey sticks, feeling on top of the world. No matter what the world throws at them — and most of them have seen far too much — for 90 minutes every morning, their dreams seem within arm’s reach.
The children are coached by one of India’s most renowned hockey players, Arjuna awardee, Olympian, and former captain of the national hockey team, Jude Felix, founder of the Jude Felix Hockey Academy, a charitable trust that promotes hockey among underprivileged children.
Helping children had always been at the back of his mind, says Felix. “I didn’t have the money to do anything, but I wanted to teach them what I knew best.” The need to revive hockey among the youth was also growing — the sport’s glory was fading fast as cricket took over the streets of India.
It all fell into place through a chance remark four years ago. Felix, who wanted to sponsor a dinner at St Mary’s Orphanage on Christmas Day, told the then director, Father John Anthony that he would like to coach the children in hockey. “Father John loved the idea. It was nothing short of a miracle, really.”
A prominent group of philanthropists promised help and the academy spluttered to a start. But it didn’t last long. The group lost interest in the project and Felix was left in the lurch. “There was only one man who stood by me at the time,” said Felix. That man was Shanmugam P., who has worked with the underprivileged for 12 years. He helped the JFHA get back on its feet.
“We had no idea how to start a trust at the time, but we met some like-minded people who really played a big role,” said Shanmugam. “Jude was like a role model and mentor to us, we all looked up to him.”
Starting an academy was not the intention at the time. All they wanted to do was teach kids hockey, something they would never have had the chance to learn otherwise. The field adjoining Marianiketan School, where the children from the orphanage studied, was covered in rubbish, save for one small patch, where the practices began.
It took one month of gruelling hard work to level, clean and convert the field into one of the finest pitches in the city. The JFHA, which now has six trustees on its board, is fuelled entirely by goodwill. Volunteers donate water and juice during hockey matches, others donate banners and trophies. “We don’t take money, we just ask people to contribute in any way they can,” says Shanmugam.
Father John provided the budding team with a small kit room and friends helped collect equipment. Equipment was a tremendous challenge as it is expensive. Things looked bleak until JFHA received a contribution of a 100 hockey sticks from an anonymous donor.
“We still use those sticks and because of them, we have equipment for 200 children now,” said Shanmugam. Meanwhile, Felix’s old friends began to look him up as well. International hockey player Tushar Khandekar and his uncle Subodh donated 60 hockey sticks to the academy, which started out with about 40 children. “Manufacturers also stepped up because I had not collected royalties for using their equipment,” Felix said. “So our kids had the best shoes, the best hockey sticks and the best equipment by far.”
In time the school team started doing very well at tournaments and the boys got their first taste of victory. “We had two boys selected for the Sports Academy of India. One boy, Rajendra, represented the state in the sub junior level,” says Felix. Now, the children needed competition, to play against the best. “Our kids were never invited to the more prestigious hockey tournaments,” said Felix. That’s how the JFHA hockey tournament came into being two years ago.
Playing under floodlights, the children competed against teams from Singapore and a team from Ananthapur supported by the Spanish hockey team. “I have seen tournaments the world over and this is absolutely world class,” Felix says proudly.
Volunteers come in from the Community Involvement Programme in Singapore and twice a year from the Kelly School of Business to spend time with the children.
“The kids are so excited by the game and some of them are extremely skilful,” says Felix. Despite this, the discrimination they face is daunting. “They are smaller than the rest, and although that doesn’t matter, the bright people on our selection committee look for tall, athletic people, so our children lose out,” Felix added.
Even so, hockey is more than just a game to these children. “You can see the difference in the way they talk and carry themselves,” said Felix. He started out with a good thought and a small ambition, but has managed to create, even for a sport that has lost much of its popularity, a world class academy. “We don’t know what traumas these kids have seen, but sport is a miracle healer,” says Shanmugam.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by Darshan Ramdev, DC / May 13th, 2013