When 70 students from Alphonsa High School in Pune went to watch Chak De India with their sports coach Shridharan Thamba, little did they know that it would change much in their own school.After a gap of three years, the school has now revived the women’s hockey team with as many as 35 entries already in. “We had started the team five years ago. After two years we had to stop it because there was very little response. The movie has inspired the girls to get enrolled again,” said Thamba, who has been a national umpire and has also been a coach for the Maharashtra team for five years. “This is the first time a movie has been made on the subject and I am so happy with its impact,” he adds. At the other end of the town, one day after the release of Chak De India, on August 11, around 30 girls from St Anne’s High School saw the movie with their hockey coaches Lynnette Weilson and Marian D’Souza. “Since it is a movie based on hockey, we decided to watch it together and it was fun cheering with everyone,” said Weilson, who has been a coach with the school for a decade now. For the girls team at St Joseph’s High School, Pashan, the movie also became a way to convey to their hockey coach, Nitin Ramchandra Shah, how much they valued his guidance. Forty of them pooled together to treat him to the show that they watched together. “The movie depicts reality but the best part is that it has some real players which makes it all the more convincing. It was good to see some of the known faces,” adds Weilson.What also convinced her to take her team of girls for the movie was her involvement during the auditioning of the movie. “Back in December 2005 when I was the secretary of the Women’s Hockey Association, the team making the film had auditioned my girls too but none of them could make it,” she said.“There is scope but we need more sponsors and better funds,” said Shah.
