Part 3/4

The story of Punjab's hockey village Mithapur

Beginning of a new era

It was one of the evening discussions by former hockey Olympian Pargat Singh, who was then Superintend of Police in PAP Jalandhar, with his old friends from his native Mithapur village that led to an idea of establishing hockey academy in the village somewhere in mid 2005 and as they say rest is the history.

“It was somewhere in mid 2005, while sitting with my friends from the village, I just started enquiring about the next generation and took some specific names to know what they were doing. Almost all the names I mentioned, either were into drugs or had migrated abroad. And the village hockey ground that once used to be occupied by the hockey playing youth, had become a deserted place and I was shocked to know that it has since then been occupied by the drug addicts. That conversation forced me to start a hockey academy in the village and now the outcome is in front of everyone,” recalled Pargat Singh, who is an MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment and the village Mithapur is part of the constituency. “Initially, we started with 40 kids and formed two group under-12 and under-14. Current Indian captain Manpreet is from the first batch,” added Pargat, who played in three Olympics (1988, 92, 96).   

Youth Sports Club Mithapur

The hockey centre in the village is run under Youth Sports Club Mithapur and it witnesses over 100 youngsters honing their skills in the sport.

“The Youth Club has appointed a coach on monthly salary and two-three seniors from the village help him on daily basis in the coaching. Apart from the maintenance of the ground, providing free kits, refreshments and other equipments, the club is managing everything of its own since its beginning in mid-2005, without looking towards government for any financial support,” said 72-year-old Surinder Pal Singh, who had played at national-level. “The annual budged for running the centre is around Rs 6 lakh, and with the help of good samaritans and some NRIs from the village, we meet these expense on our own,” added Pargat Singh.

To be continued