Morlem: Curious Face Gagle outside the school playground here in Morlem continues to swell every day.
There was a man who drove two and three on a motorcycle, the other on their bicycle.
Some cars are parked, because almost everyone who passes wants a glimpse of unusual actions in the field.
In most days, you will see school children just running around or girls playing Kho-kho and Kabaddi.
In other days, there will be a volleyball game, soccer or cricket for the villagers.
Now, they try their hands on a completely different sport: hockey.
“Hockey is a city talk,” said Patterson Andrade, President of Stars of Sattari.
“This village (Morlem) sees hockey for the first time.
The words lately spread rapidly through social media.
The response is encouraging.” Not only morlem.
The nearest villages in Goa from Sattari Taluka are like Sonshi, Honda, Keri and Bhuimpal all buzzing.
All of this thanks to 35 school children between the ages of 10 and 14 who took a stick for the first time and attended a pioneering hockey camp.
The majority of participants are women, 11 of them from government secondary schools in Morlem.
“We have seen hockey only on television,” said 14-year-old Trusha Rani.
“I never dreamed that I could play my own sports.
It was also so fast.
It’s a good sport and we have decided that we will continue to play (hockey) even after this camp concludes.” Like several other people in the camp, Rani.
Have taken the game seriously, reported to train almost half an hour earlier.
This is a welcome change from delaying 20 minutes on the first two days when no one knows what to expect.
“You can see they want to learn,” said Senior Coach Alexander who was hidden, the hockey coach of the hockey of Goa who had trained players in Goa for three decades.
“To get 30 children every day is very encouraging.
We have more want to join but they will find it difficult to catch up, so we train them on the sidelines.” Hockey is not only technical sports but also expensive.
A regular hockey stick costs anywhere between Rs 800 and Rs 1,200, may be out of reach of many unfavorable families in this part of the world, where income income and sometimes no.
There is nothing to worry about, because the pillar fathers sports initiative for the development of youth in Sattari provides assistance.
“Hockey is our national game and I am always very patriotic,” said FR Dominic Alvares who heads this program.
“Even after I became a priest, I always save a stick in my room, so love for the game always stay alive.
When I came here, I thought of empowering women, and what kind of way than catching them? If it’s not a stick, They will go with latnis (rolling pin).
“Sattari is not the alien area for FR Alvares, 60, a hockey champion during his school days at SMT Anthony’s High School in Monte de Guirim.
Between 2006 and 2012, he spent six years in Birondem, and despite the galvanization of young people – keep them away from alcohol and drugs – he also gave them a sense of hockey.
Because FR Alvares returned to Sattari for the second spell, he found a collaborator at the Goa Group Hockey Hockey, Sattari stars and Hockey Kheluia, carried out by Peter Fernandes.
Fernandes spent the last three years in Kolkata working with Khelo Rugby.
Through sports and related values, organizations help many children who are less fortunate to improve their lives.
They want to do the same thing here, and everything starts at Sattari.
“From my experience in Kolkata, I can say that children who are less able to stay in a healthy circle if they are connected with sports,” Fernandes said.
The training participants were in a good hand and had been provided with the best of everything, including a surprise visit from Clarence Lobo based in Mumbai, which won the Dronacharya award, a national honor given to the best Indian sports coach.
“Some people say it’s dangerous, but we found this fun (game).
I will convince my parents to buy me a hockey stick,” said Shetkar Custal, a student from Swami Vivekananda Vidya Mandir in Keri.
Until last week, Shethar played soccer and cricket during his spare time.
Now he falls in love with hockey, just like many other people here, though until now, some of them watched the match or even know what the stick was.