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Felix academy for underprivileged
DH News Service, Bangalore:

Former Indian skipper and twice Olympian Jude Felix will realise his long-cherished dream of setting up a hockey academy for underprivileged children when sixty children will get their first lessons in the art of wielding the stick here on Saturday.

The Bangalorean, who was the playmaker of the national team during the late eighties and nineties, will induct into the Jude Felix Hockey Academy children from the St Mary’s Orphanage in Cooke Town and also underprivileged kids from its neighbourhood.

“It was my dream to work with underprivileged kids, but I knew it was never going to be easy. For the last ten years I have been thinking about starting an academy. We are planning to give training to 60 kids from the orphanage (St Mary’s) and children from its neighbourhood,” said Felix, at a press conference to announce the launch of the academy at the Indian Gymkhana Club.

“I was fortunate to meet Fr John Antony who is in charge of the orphanage. He took a lot of interest when I talked to him about my dream to start an academy. Lions Club of Bangalore also came up with full support and as a key sponsor of the academy,” Felix, who represented the country in the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, added.

The 44-year-old, who is at present working as the coach of Singapore Recreation Club, will travel to India every two months to oversee conduct of the academy, which will have national and state players as coaches.
“I will be the chief patron of the academy. I would like to come here for at least one week every two months and pass my experience as a player and coach to the children. We are yet to finalise the list of coaches. We are also looking at the option of fully paid coaches.”

Revealing his plans, Felix went on, “Twenty children each from under-8, U-10, U-12 age groups will be given training for five years. Once they reach the age of 17 we will try to get these trainees admission to various Sports Authority of India campus in the country.

“The ultimate aim for me is to guide them and give these children proper training so that they can play for the country,” said Felix.

KSHA support

Felix, who was also part of the silver medal-winning team at the ’90 Beijing and ’94 Hiroshima Asian Games, said the academy had the support of the Karnataka State Hockey Association. “We have the support of the State hockey association (KSHA) and it won’t take too long to get their recognition.”

Lions Club of Bangalore will provide basic facilities for the kids, who will have St Mary’s Orphanage Ground for their training. “We will do everything for the proper running of the academy. All the basic needs for the kids to play hockey will be looked after by the Lions Club,” said N Ramesh, chairman, Lions Club of Bangalore.

As part of the inauguration on Saturday, an exhibition match will be played between two teams comprising present and former international players at 3.00 pm. Cricketing ace Rahul Dravid and former national hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay will also grace the occasion.