The intarnetional sport clubs

Turfs and mini-turfs at clubs and educational institutions will afford opportunities for young boys and girls to develop and sharpen their talent.

I personally do not subscribe to the view that lack of funds is hindering growth. The funds have been used in the wrong places. There is no way out but to increase the number of turfs.

Our hockey was an art made a science now by game dominant countries and we are confused between the two. Genetically and geographically skill is the hallmark of sub-continental hockey. Why couldn’t we garnish our skill with modern techniques of the game? Confused with local and foreign coach options we are left nowhere. Our glorious days can be attributed to the system we inherited at partition.

We had and still have tremendous talent; only tapping is needed at the right time. Revival of club hockey would enable us to groom young boys to excellence.

We need coaches at club and school levels and game strategist at higher levels. Hockey is a vibrant game of one hour; intellect is the dominating quality of sportsmen and sports managers. Let them decide when to apply art (Asian style) and when to go scientific (European style).

We have heroes who brought laurels to the nation. They afforded us the status of the superpower of hockey. Many of them sacrificed personal education and businesses. No material reward is enough for their contribution. Their iconic value merits employment as mentors. Their relevant expertise, proficiency, experience and knowledge of game must appropriately be used at all levels of game development: club, school, college, university, regional and national.

Private sector now considers it a business opportunity when it gets involved in supporting a game and players. Around the world league system is in place for football and cricket; a few examples can be quoted for hockey too. Interest has been shown by Lahore Qalandars. It definitely requires a policy enunciation from the government (modernised PHF) to encourage other franchises of PSL.

A decentralised approach from federal to district governments has better success prospects. We need regional talent hunting, registration and maintenance of players’ database, formulation of regional teams, and grassroots level tournaments.

No resource is sufficient unless limits are imposed with definite accomplishable targets enumerated. An all-encompassing accountability, transparency and performance audit within the game management bodies is mandatory. Misappropriation, lavish expenditure and nepotism deteriorate the players’ motivation and cause a leakage of scarce resources.

We have separated education from sports for various reasons which badly affected the performance in field sports. Ministries of education and sports have to work in unison under the direction of federal and provincial governments.