BHUBANESWAR: Cory Dykema puts on his hockey jersey, slips on his shoes, checks if the rest of his gear is okay before beginning field hockey sessions at Liberty University with the women's team there. Dean Schiller does the same thing before walking out to practice with the University of Maryland's women's team. Both Schiller and Dykema, who are with the US Under-21 World Cup team in Bhubaneswar, could represent a future where the sport may potentially have takers.
For the time being, though, they are symbolic of a bigger problem the sport faces in the US. As field hockey is considered to be more of a women's sport in that part of the world, not many boys automatically view it as a career choice. Various reports say there are 10 women or girl hockey players for every boy or man involved in the sport. So, exclusive hockey programmes for men are almost non-existent save a few states like California.
The only option, then, for most boys hoping to major in the sport is to play or practice with women or girls (there have been prominent cases relating to boys playing in girls' teams at the school or the university level in the US). The other alternatives include shifting base to Europe to play and train regularly or quitting the sport. If there is anybody familiar with the US' problems in attracting boys to play hockey, it is Patrick Harris.
The 36-year-old, who has played 150 games for the US senior team, can only shrug his shoulders when addressing these issues. The scoreboard sort of reflects his resigned expression. It reads: 'Pakistan 18-2 USA'. In the four matches they have played in Bhubaneswar, they have scored three and conceded 54.
"This is the reality," Harris says. "We just have to go slow. We have to understand it's a long process for us. In the short-term, we have to play games like this to understand how to close down the gap to the top teams." It's not that there is a lack of know-how or even tradition for the sport in the US. The US women's team are heavyweights in the region, have played in every World Cup bar one since 1983 and regularly qualify for the Olympics. So it's more a cultural and a socio-economic issue.
Harris explains. "The women are supported better with resources, that's one of the main things," he says when asked to point out the differences in the programmes of men's and women's teams.
"In our culture, unfortunately, because we have a lot of other professional sports, we lose a lot of those athletes to other sports. It's hard to recruit men's players in that sense. Hockey is culturally, typically, more of a women's game. Therefore, it's hard to get numbers and attract kids."
It's also kind of complicated for the boys who fall in love with the sport. Both Dykema and Schiller did after trying their hand in a variety of sports. The opportunities to play regularly, they found out, weren't guaranteed.
"There are a few that train at colleges, kind of practice players but they do not play games," Harris says. Needless to say, that isn't ideal. "It affects them a lot, I think," Harris points out.
"Big differences between the men's and women's game. When you get used to that, it's harder to adapt when you then play for the men's team."
The only realistic way to address this head-on, according to Harris, is players going to Europe. "Ideally, I would like to see more boys going to Europe just so they can play more, have more hours of hockey. Need more hours of hockey to understand what the top looks like so that we can close the gap." Most of the players now are on their own, something Harris isn't a big fan of.
"It's so much easier to motivate yourself when you are a part of team," he says.
"When you are on your own, it takes a lot of discipline." If the players do not want the European route, the status quo may remain.
However, California offers a blueprint that suggests boys in the US could take to the sport in an organic manner given the right environment. Out of the 50 States, California is one of the few that has reliable, dedicated programmes for boys to thrive. Harris came out of California and more than a half-a-dozen of his wards in this trip are also from the Golden State.
"There have been a few people from there who were really into the sport, kind of pioneers who pushed for the growth of the boys game in California. There have been others in other States but they didn't necessarily push in the same way."
While that will take time, the European way to achieve success is more workable in the short to medium-term. Right now, though, Harris suggests a more existential problem.
"There should be a system where the boys can train every month for a weekend, maybe. After this (World Cup), they don't necessarily know what's next." And that, in a nutshell, is the problem.