Sattari girls dribble into hearts of hockey lovers

Mapusa: They collectively fell to the ground, held their heads in their hands and fought tears.
The rival coach first walked up and shook hands with each one of them individually. The rival team, after a moment of wild celebration, realised they had a job to do: Console the team, and players, they had just defeated by the narrowest of margins.
Government High School, Keri, had come within one penalty shoot-out of completing an unbelievable triumph in the U-17 Nehru Cup inter-school hockey tournament for girls, but this fairy tale did not have the happiest of endings at the Peddem sports complex in Mapusa on Thursday.
For a remote government school from Sattari that took to hockey only a few months ago, played in a tournament for the first time, and made it to the final without conceding a goal, this was hard-to-believe stuff.
En route to the final, Keri registered a 10-0 win against St Xavier’s HSS, Mapusa, heavyweights of the game at this level. Another game saw them win 12-0 against Our Lady of Lourdes HS, Utorda.
Their supporters, who had occupied large parts of the stand for the final, were pinching themselves. They were not dreaming. This government school team could actually go all the way, win on debut, and represent Goa at the national tournament in Delhi later this month.
In the final, Keri took the lead in regulation time (2-2), and then in the resultant penalty shoot-out, but St Anthony’s, Duler, kept their cool to emerge 5-4 victors via the tiebreaker.
“This campaign has thrilled me, rather than disappoint on the loss in final,” said Tommy Menezes, a retired banker from Mumbai who discovered a new goal in his life and took to coaching government schools in Sattari. “They started just a few months ago. People didn’t even know of these places. I knew they would do well, but did not expect the teams to come so far, honestly.”
It was not just Keri who made it so far in the tournament that had 11 teams.
Government HS, Morlem, another school from the remote taluka of Sattari in North Goa, also caught everyone by surprise, making it to the semi-finals where they lost against eventual champions St Anthony’s.
For the third-place match, Morlem showed they were a cut above their opponents, winning 9-0 against Our Lady of Lourdes HS, Utorda.
“The future of hockey is grassroots development, and it starts in Sattari,” said Fr Dominic Alvares, who heads Pilar Fathers-Sports for Youth Development, Sattari.
It was Fr Alvares, along with Hockey Heritage Group Goa, Stars of Sattari and Hockey Kheluia, run by Peter Fernandes, who took the game to these remote parts of the state and made the first-timers fall in love.
Most of the girls had not seen a hockey game before, either in person or on television.
The first camp was held in October last year at Morlem, while Keri had its first taste of hockey only in April when the passionate groups organised their first camp.
Unlike other organisations, the promoters did not just organise camps and then pack their bags. They continued with training sessions, twice a week in Keri and Morlem, and made sure that the players had access to equipment and training.
“The girls were playing on artificial-turf ground, 11 vs 11, for the first time,” said Alexander Remedious, Goa’s senior most hockey coach, who has trained players in Goa for three decades. “Hockey now needs strength and power which these girls have, and their success here proves that if we find the right talent and groom them, they can go far with their determination.”
Since the uneven ground at Morlem was not good enough for full-pitch training and booking Peddem sports complex remains an expensive affair, the teams from Sattari were trained on small artificial turf ground in Ribandar where a maximum of five players, per team, can take the field.
That helped the team stay in shape, learn the basics of the game quickly, but they were eventually pipped at the post.
“There is disappointment, no doubt,” said Tommy. “The girls were in tears, I was also in tears, but this is an achievement, not failure. The girls are already talking of the next inter-school tournament.”