Indian players less superstitious, says FIH survey

The international hockey governing body, FIH, has conducted what it claims ‘The World’s Largest Hockey survey’ here in Bhubneswar and it has revealed that the Indian elite players are not very superstitious, with only 11% admitting to having any form of pre-game lucky rituals compared to 23% across all elite international players

198 players competing in this year’s Hockey Champions Trophy took part in the survey.

As only expected Indian players take up hockey late, compared to their counterparts across the globe. The survey finds that on average India’s players took up the sport later than their international counterparts, they start playing aged 11, whereas the international average was 8.

Interestingly, the Belgian team that will engage Indian in the quarterfinal today, is the youngest aged just 5.

Other important findings of the survey include:

How the players got into hockey

•65% got into hockey because of their families
•15% said it was thanks to encouragement from their friends
•20% were inspired by the exploits of their favourite elite players

Social media engagement

•When asked about the social media channels they favoured, 24% of Indian players claimed to use Twitter, but a higher 78% are on Facebook
•Only 2% of Indian players claimed to use social media hourly, compared to 20% of all players in the survey

If not on the hockey pitch

The survey asked what players would do if they weren’t hockey players.

•Football was the most popular sport for 65% of Indian hockey players at school, followed by cricket on 22%
•The Indian players had some interesting suggestions for alternative professions they thought they would do, if not on the hockey pitch. These included; a few businessmen, a farmer, a goldsmith, and a Bollywood actor