Harbhupinderjit Singh Samra (42) was a promising hockey player, but an accident 20 years ago forced him to stay off the field. Today, he is determined to make ace players out of rural underprivileged children -- he runs Pendu Hockey League (PHL), a nursery of hockey coaching.
Samra is founder-president of the Rural Hockey Development Society (RHDS) to which Pendu Hockey League (PHL) is affiliated. He doesn't forget the day when doctors gave him the saddest news of his life: he could no longer play the sport.
"I had got admission in Khalsa College in Amritsar and was selected for the college hockey team. In 1999, our college team went to Faridkot to play the Baba Farid Hockey tournament. On the way to the venue, my scooter skidded and hit a jeep coming from the opposite direction. My spine received injuries at three places," recalls Samra.
"A few days later doctors told me that I would not be able to play hockey for the rest of my life. That was the end of my fledgling hockey career, which started in my first year in the college," says Samra.
Young Samra was shattered, but his determination pushed him ahead in another direction. "I always dreamed of representing my country. When I saw budding rural players, I thought I’d do something for them," says Samra.
He decided to open a facility where young underprivileged players could train. But it remained only a dream until his marriage in 2010. "I shared my aspirations with my wife, who suggested we utilized our 'shagun' money of Rs 67,000 for the project."
He took another four years to start RHDS and set up seven centres in Dosanjh Kalan, Sarihn, Chania, Seechewal, Sindhar, Samrai Jandiala and Tehang villages. Samra is a small farmer with four acres of land and is the current chairman of the market committee of Jalandhar Cantonment.
He has been organizing funding campaigns for the PHL through sponsorship from Capital Small Finance Bank, Markfed, NRIs and other companies. "A sponsor can contribute anything between Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh," he said. Every year Samra’s centre spends around Rs 10 lakh on training the children, kits, balls, uniforms, shoes and socks.
He also takes care of their diet besides arranging pick-and-drop for them. The PHL tournament kicks off usually in November and continues for three weeks. However, this year COVID-19 didn'’t allow them to hold the tournament.
Young PHL players have been selected for several national hockey tournaments such as Under-16 National Rural Hockey, Hockey Indian National Under-14, Under-17 and Under-19, School National Games and Khelo India National Games. Meet Rajini, 14, from Samrai Jandiala village.
Her father is into small-time business. "When I started playing, my parents were unimpressed. I have earned villagers’ respect with my persistence and discipline. When they say 'look hockey girls are coming', it gives us a lot of encouragement."
Sachin (15) is also from the same village. He plays for under- 17 and nurses ambition to represent the country. "My family is proud of the fact that I play and also study."
The PHL now welcomes girl hockey players -- at four of the seven centres, there are women hockey teams. There are at least 20 girls at each of these centres. “The rural mindset about girl players is changing,’’ says Samra.
Each centre has at least 70 children in the age group of five to 17 years. There are four teams per centre, so all the centres have 28 teams. "We get a lot of support from government schools as most of these children study in these schools," says Samra.
Former Indian hockey captain, who is also an MLA from Jalandhar Cantt, Pargat Singh, admires Samra’s efforts. Jatinder Pal Singh Rai, a Hindi teacher at government senior secondary school of Samrai Jandiala village, doubles up as a coach for the students.
"The children are doing fine -- two of them have been selected in BSF under the sports quota. Another student has played for the rural national. So far around 550 children have learnt A-Class hockey in five years," says Rai.
Harmesh Lal, a physical training in-charge at government senior secondary school of Samrai Jandiala, says the rural children are physically better off than their urban counterparts. "Samra remains firm to produce national-level players for the Indian team. He is persistently working to achieve that goal," says Lal.