Lalremsiami is just 19 and is playing the Asian Games.
While India women’s hockey team packed their bags for the continent’s biggest sports festival Asian Games with Lalremsiami as the youngest player in their squad, we were in search of Lalremsiami’s house in Kolasib, a town just 85 km north of Mizoram’s capital Aizawl.
Siami, as she is fondly called by her teammates, is believed to be the brightest prospect of Indian hockey and was awarded ‘the Under 21 rising star award’ at the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy, where she played a total of 31 minutes on the field across five matches scoring two goals and helped India win the silver medal.
“You will have to take that road,” says an old woman, pointing towards the downhill road with no proper street lights, but potholes and muds. The small house, with its wall covered with medals, citations, and trophies stands at the end of the road.
“It’s not easy to visit us,” says Lalthansanga Zote, father of Lalremsiami. He stays with her wife and his parents and is watching an interview of him at a local television channel. “I’m having a lot of interviews these days, thanks to my daughter,” he smiles.
While we looked around the citations, trophies, and medals hanging around the wall, Siami’s mother pointed out one trophy. “This is not hers, Its a trophy by her brother. They are talented, even one of her brother reached this year Mizo Idol (a singing competition in Mizoram) second round. He will sing live next week,” she smiles with pride.
A family of 10 and farming as the only source of income, how does a girl from a small town in a football crazy state Mizoram start to pick up a hockey sticks and even aware of the game?
“There is a playground nearby our house where young girls used to play hockey. She, along with her friends joined them, spotted by a school hockey coach and was selected for the school games. That was the beginning of today,” says Lalthansanga.
When Lalremsiami represented her school at Kolasib school sports at the age of 10, she was adjudged as the best hockey player of the games with a cash award of Rs. 500. “That was her first earning from hockey,” recalls Thansanga.
Since then, the journey of a timid and soft-spoken Mizoram girl, Siami was an exciting and incredible one. At age 11, she was selected as a trainee for the state government run hockey academy in Thenzawl, Mizoram.
“When she told me she was selected for the academy the first thing I asked her was, ‘Is that for free?’ because I know we couldn’t manage to do it if they asked for a monthly fee,” says Lazarmawii, mother of Lalremsiami. “When she was about to leave for the state academy, she told me she will represent India one day. But I just laughed off,” says Siami’s mother.
“I know she is quite good in the game from her coach, but playing for India? That dream was way too big for a mother, who doesn’t know anything other than farming,” she admits she couldn’t join her daughter dreams at the initial stage.
Eight years later, her first senior call-up came and helped India win gold at the 2017 Asia Cup and went on to represent India at the 2018 World Cup where she was the youngest Indian player at the age of 18.
From the town’s school games to the state hockey academy, a transfer to National hockey academy and now a regular member of the senior national team – Lalremsiami’s trajectory is the stuff of dreams.
Struggling to make ends meet at times even joining the National Hockey Academy, New Delhi in 2016 needs a big dedication of Siami’s parents, who couldn’t even visit her during her time in Thenzawl, only because of the taxi fare to the academy cost around Rs 300.
“She once called me she only had two rupees left in her pocket. I feel like I failed her, not doing enough for my daughter and that hurt me the most,” says an emotional Siami’s father – but he refused to give up.
“I called her roommate whom she used to call Didi (current India captain Rani Rampal), and requested her to lend her money,” he smiles. “They are good people, they give her what she needs and I’ll arrange it later on,” he continues.
Despite lack of funds, Siami’s parents continued to encourage their daughter, while she too not had it easy with the national team. “When I first arrived in Delhi, I couldn’t even speak a single word of Hindi,” says Siami.
“My first biggest fight was the language barrier. I continued to learn through my Mizo-Hindi dictionary, while Didi (Rani Rampal) also helped me a lot. My Hindi is a little bit okay now,” she says.
While her ‘Hindi’ might still sound broken,Siami continues to entertain the Indian hockey fans with her path-breaking performances and today, she dreams of an Asian Games ‘gold’ around her neck.
“We hope people will find ‘India – Women’s hockey team on the table of medal tally,” she says as India prepared for their first match against Indonesia tonight.
With her incredible skills and supreme control over the ball known to all and sundry, a talented forward who had this exceptional ability in one-on-one situations with a beautiful control over the ball, Lalremsiami surely is, not only the next big thing in Indian hockey but also in all sports.