A ‘New’ Olympic story
This is not about vexed hockey gold won or lost. It’s about sticks cold-storaged, dug out a decade ago, before being putting in use this month.
It’s a story of hockey stick, branded ‘Olympic’ as is Alfa, Maharaajda or Vampire of present day.
This happened in a school, and a charity organization is indirect plotter of the story.
A big tin box was lying in the school for long before one day the school management decided to dispose it off in order to clean up a dungeon room.
The physical education teacher of the school a decade ago thought it should not be thrown, better let us open and see. What he saw was duty bundle of hockey sticks, branded Olympic’. He that time thought it must be a decade or more old.
While everyone who was hurry in clean up operation, asked him to throw away the sticks or give to chop shop or scrap shop.
Being a sportsman in spirit, he simply hid it in some place that time before finding a safe place. And then forgot it once for all.
A decade or so had passed.
A hockey volunteer organization came knocking the schools doors, offering them free sticks and balls, coach, if the school is in case interested in developing the national game, hockey.
The school management agreed; it received brand new sticks. Boys and girls enrolled, hockey started, there were more wards than the gifts could accommodate.
So the physical education teacher was in a bit bother as to how to meet the more requirements; got reminded of old sticks.
He could locate the sticks, there were 20 of them, gave them to the boys, the sticks were as good as any other in the market.
But there is only difference.
The hooks were so wide angled, it opened the boys eyes wider.
The PET had to say this to them:
“In olden times the sticks used to be like this, with broader hooks. Nowadays the hooks are narrow to suit the natural grass hockey”.
I quietly picked up an ‘Olympic’ stick for my collection, even as boys and girls were busy in their drills.
The charity behind unearthing and bring ‘Olympic’ sticks back to use is One Thousand Hockey Legs.
The St. Anthony’s Anglo-Indian School is in Chennai.