Playing for survival

Taites had,in fact,appeared for recruitment exams last year in September but failed since he did not know typing. “But this year in March I again appeared for exams after picking up typing. Lets hope that this time I get through,” said the Mira Road resident.

On Thursday,Taites did some wonderful work under the bar and saved his team the blushes against Central Railway. He saved at least four goals in a close affair which Customs managed to just win 2-1 after surviving a heavy onslaught from Central Railway forwards.

“Unfortunately for me,whenever I played well,there was no one to take notice in the stands,that’s why I never got a chance to even get into the Indian camp,” says the commerce graduate from Rizvi College who played with Adrian D’Souza once but he could not go beyond city level while D’Souza played for India.

Surprisingly Taites managed to put up a good display under the bar without practice because his team had not played since September last year. “Then we had played in Super Division but since then our team did not play a single game,” said Taites who is a well-known goalkeeper in the rink hockey circle.

Then how did he manage to keep fit since playing after a long time puts one on a high risk of getting injured. “I do lots of running and also play a bit of football. Besides we get to play rink hockey which helps improve your reflexes,” observed Taites.

Taites has been playing with borrowed kits since he cannot buy one for himself owing to lack of money. “I hope I get the job this time or atleast get to play in PHL,then the scene might change.”