Take mini turfs to schools

Watching the Argentina women's team play has been a pleasure here. There is so much passion in their play and anyway, their style always rem...

Watching the Argentina women8217;s team play has been a pleasure here. There is so much passion in their play and anyway, their style always reminds me of their football team play in the World Cup. But the most beautiful sight today was the Argentinian team qualifying for the women8217;s World Cup semifinals. After the beautiful Maria Cecilia Rognomi scored the match-winner off a penalty corner, Argentine fans went into overdrive as they danced and sang with the team accompanying them in a corner of the pitch. The celebrations went on for half-an-hour and the organisers had to request them to leave so that the next match could be started at the Frockey Stadium pitch.

One player who has impressed me as probably the most outstanding player in the tournament has been Oliver Domke of Germany. He is normally a outside-left but changes positions constantly in a match and has scored most of his goals 5 from the position of a striker. Domke8217;s reverse-hit is probably the most dangerous in the tournament and has the powerand speed of a normal full-blooded hit. Three years back Germany8217;s coach Paul Lissek had told me to look out for Domke and today Liseek8217;s words have come true.

Domke is the result of careful planning by the Germany Hockey Federation. From the juniors ranks Donke was groomed by Lissek and today, Lissek uses him as the most potent weapon in the German side. Rarely, would you find Domke being used for the full match. Rolling substitution sees to it that Domke comes into the ground for not more than 15 minutes at a stretch. Goes back and gets his breath back.

The best part of the World Cup has been the four-a-side ground that the manufacturers of the World Cup turf Desso have laid at the village in the stadium. Any time you wander through that areas at least 20-30 kids would be playing own the small turf. It is big enough to hold a schools six-a-side match. And what I feel is that such turfs should be laid in schools by the state associations or with help from the state or the central government.

Thereis no point wasting Rs one crore on one pitch which anyway will never see any school team training there. In Rs one crore we can get at least five-six such pitches or even more and put it in schools so that the kids get a feel of the ground. These are not immediate solutions to India8217;s hockey problems but these are steps that can change India8217;s fortunes in the near future. What Germany and Holland are today is only because of superb planning and a deification to become world champions.

Everybody here says that India have such superbly skilled players but are unable to transform that into winning situations. Maybe we all should look deep down and maybe we could discover some answers.