Chak De! : The NIT-T Chapter
Flicked from oblivion into permanence.
A sport where the left side of the stick is the “right” side, where the goalies are keepers and players are fighters: field hockey is pushing, flicking and hitting its way through. Hockey may not be as popular as cricket, but enough to be featured in SRK’s infamous Movie, Chak De! India.
The best sports so far have been the simplest ones — those in which the aim of the game is to simply get a ball into a net or the other side of the pitch. Hockey falls right under that.
Many of us don’t know the rules, so here they are: 11 players on each side of the field, a Goal-keeper, 3 Defenders, 4 Mid-fielders and 3 Forwards.
Each player is equipped with a curved stick(definitely not for hitting the opponent) which has both a flat end on one side and a curve to aid flicking of the ball on the other end. The ball can be handled only with the flat side of the stick, even touching with the other side of the stick will result in a foul and the possession of the ball must be immediately given to the opposing team. It’s like in football, where the player can’t touch the ball with his hands during play. Having the ball in “possession” for longer and moving around the field to take a proper shot at the goal is the usual play.
A new format of gameplay timings was introduced in 2017 where the game is played in 4 quarters of 15 minutes each, however in some competitions the old format of 35 minutes each in 2 halves is still followed.
One of the unique features in this game is unlimited substitutions at any point in the game: any player can switch out with another, but under certain conditions.
There are various fouls that could be frequently committed in play, for example when a player touches or kicks the ball, even unintentionally, or when more than one person tries to tackle the ball carrier, they have to return possession to the opposing team. And dangerous play like intentionally blocking an opponent, excessive physical contact, or using the stick in unintended manners will lead to awarding a green card(warning), yellow card (5-minute suspension) or a red card(ejected from the match).
Some of the major penalties in the game are:
- Long Corner — defender hits behind goal line unintentionally.
- Penalty (Short) Corner — defender hits behind goal line intentionally.
- Penalty Shot- defender intentionally fouls the opponent.
Despite being the world’s third most popular sport, with two billion fans worldwide, field hockey is not very popular in our country. There are only a few tournaments that are aired nationally, like the Hockey World Cup, The Olympics Hockey, Hockey Champions League.
The Hockey situation in NIT-T is not as it could be: due to the ignorance of many schools, most students entering this college are unaware such a sport exists and that we have a full-fledged team. When the Hockey Team Captain, Yash Aher, was enquired about this, he said,
“It was never a widely known sport, but yes I do hope it reaches the heights where Cricket is now, with robust competition across India, and with technical coaching I guess that’s enough for uplifting Indian hockey mindset.”
That’s not all, the Women’s Hockey Team is not at its peak due to lack of awareness and participation on the girls’ front. This shows that not only do they not know the rules of Hockey, but are also hesitant to join and learn the sport. Is this the state of such a revered sport? Hockey is a game with limitless opportunities. Our college conducts workshops coached by the Hockey team to teach interested students who’ve never played the game before so that they can learn to enjoy the sport.
In terms of tournaments, there are 3 major tournaments that the team participates each year, being IIT-BHU tour, PITS tour, and IIT-B tour. What’s even more amazing is that, due to the efforts of the team, many more students have attended the Hockey workshop this year, leading to the most number of students since its inception.
Leading a team, working with talented and enthusiastic players, staying focused are all lessons that are learned not just for the hockey field, but for our very lives.
Ultimately, scoring a goal in field hockey may be hard. It is one of the most skill-based sports out there. But all that’s worth doesn’t come easy. It’s very encouraging to see the NIT-T Hockey team grow both in members and in achievements as every academic year passes and hopefully will continue to do so. Having said this, the hockey dream may stretch its wings soon, bringing our girls’ team back to the fields, to rule, to rave!
This article was written in collaboration with Ambika Kannu, Naman Karn, Syed Maaiz and SuryaNarayan.
