A dream Unshaken, supported by none but a vision and wish to excel and create a mark out there.
In India's far north an unlikely team of athletes are desperately trying to put their once gentlemen and leisure time game on the map, they wish to scream out to the world that their sport exists in a country where most of the citizens aren't even aware of it!
Yes, we are talking of the country's national game - Hockey! and Ice Hockey at that. A sport which is now restricted just to the daunting valleys of Ladakh thrives to get recognized in its own country, tried to survive on the borrowed gear and yet get laurels for the nation and put the game on a world platform.
At a head spinning altitude of 3,500 ft. these daring players struggle for every breath as they exert themselves over a childhood dream which might never get fulfilled. The shortage of funds by the government and the unrecognized history of the sport has made it a concealed fact and hard win for all the players of the sport out there
The team has been active since 2009 under the coach ship of Adam Sherlip a elf confessed hockey fanatic from Australia. Adam claims his spirits for the game in India emerged on his first trip here when he saw a ''kid playing on the ice ponds with a rock and a bent stick.''
The extensiveness of the situation is as worse that most of the gear and equipment used by the ''National Team'' is either donated or second hand....And, that's not the end of it, the team also doesn't have access to any proper full sized rink with only one available in Dehradun which was shut down in 2012 due to shortage of funds.
The team still practices hard against all prevailing odds and tries to qualify for the Asian games or the Olympics so that they can make the sport recognized at a world level.
Despite of all the odds the Indian Ice Hockey team is trying to achieve their goal and get recognized in their own country!
In India's far north an unlikely team of athletes are desperately trying to put their once gentlemen and leisure time game on the map, they wish to scream out to the world that their sport exists in a country where most of the citizens aren't even aware of it!
Yes, we are talking of the country's national game - Hockey! and Ice Hockey at that. A sport which is now restricted just to the daunting valleys of Ladakh thrives to get recognized in its own country, tried to survive on the borrowed gear and yet get laurels for the nation and put the game on a world platform.
At a head spinning altitude of 3,500 ft. these daring players struggle for every breath as they exert themselves over a childhood dream which might never get fulfilled. The shortage of funds by the government and the unrecognized history of the sport has made it a concealed fact and hard win for all the players of the sport out there
The team has been active since 2009 under the coach ship of Adam Sherlip a elf confessed hockey fanatic from Australia. Adam claims his spirits for the game in India emerged on his first trip here when he saw a ''kid playing on the ice ponds with a rock and a bent stick.''
The extensiveness of the situation is as worse that most of the gear and equipment used by the ''National Team'' is either donated or second hand....And, that's not the end of it, the team also doesn't have access to any proper full sized rink with only one available in Dehradun which was shut down in 2012 due to shortage of funds.
The team still practices hard against all prevailing odds and tries to qualify for the Asian games or the Olympics so that they can make the sport recognized at a world level.
Despite of all the odds the Indian Ice Hockey team is trying to achieve their goal and get recognized in their own country!
