A Stick to Fight Back: How Kolkata’s Entally Hockey Academy gifts underprivileged kids a livelihood

The state assembly elections are just around the corner. As you walk towards the neighbourhood from the busy Sealdah station, you’d notice most boundary walls, lamp posts, and even the stray rickshaws painted with the face of leaders, promising a glorious tenure if brought to power.

Yet, as soon as you take the third left from Dr. Suresh Sarkar Road, something in the air changes. The ‘clack’ of a hockey stick, feet stomping on the ground in a specific rhythm and a voice giving out instructions to a motley group of kids all decked up in hockey gear.

Take a step inside one of the oldest hockey academies in the city, registered in 1997 but operational from way before that, and you’d be forgiven for thinking, “Is this it?”

Indeed, this tiny patch of land, no bigger than those where you see 5-a-side football tournaments hosted everywhere else in the city, is Entally Hockey Academy. The same one which is a sanctuary for hockey lovers in Kolkata, and has given countless young players a livelihood.

“Most of the kids that come here are from underprivileged families. Someone’s father is a rickshaw puller, someone’s mother runs a small eatery just down the road,” says Subir Kumar Pan, joint secretary of the academy, and on most days, the head coach in a conversation with Read.

For the Pan family, hockey is everything. Both Subir and his brother Prabir Pan were state level players, and it was through hockey that they made their professional careers in government service. Coaching is just their way of giving back to the sport.

The academy was the brainchild of Asim Ganguly, their coach and a revered figure in hockey circles. The idea was to give local kids a platform to channelise their energy. In a neighbourhood where the streets can swallow your future, the Entally Hockey Academy gives kids a stick to fight back with.

“Except on Saturdays and during monsoons, we hold practice sessions every day of the week,” Subir elaborated. “A lot of the kids go on to represent clubs in the various divisions of the Calcutta Hockey League.

“So in a way, we try to develop future players, and at the same time, help them and their families in whatever capacity that we can.

“We organise sit-and-draw competitions, celebrate various festivals in order to bring more kids from nearby neighbourhoods into the fold. We also provide basic equipment, but unfortunately, due to a lack of funds, it’s not much,” he added.

Be that as it may, the kids don’t seem to care. For them, this small ground is a sanctuary of hope. A place where they learn the value of discipline, of community, and most importantly, of trying to be better everyday. Thankfully, their parents see that spark too.

“My younger daughter got to know about the hockey academy after participating in the sit-and-draw competition. She was adamant that she wanted to learn how to play hockey. Travelling back and forth in the morning is a problem for us. But she is the one who wakes us up every morning, all excited about training,” said Putul Mondal, about her daughter Angela who studies in 4th grade.

Likewise, identical twins Tapur and Tupur have been training here since they were 6. Now they are 11, but their passion for hockey is still unshakeable.

“This is the only popular sports academy in this part of the city. Children playing in open fields has become so rare nowadays, which is why we never discouraged them. Now, it has become a safe space for them,” said their beaming father Sudip Baidya.

Many of these players have swapped their dusty jerseys for the colours of Indian Army, Customs, Railyways, Postal Services and more. Deepak Sah is one of them.

A national level hockey player who works for the Postal Department, Deepak grew up in the neighbourhood.

“A lot of the players who started training here went on to get government jobs through hockey. I started training here in 2005, when I was six or seven. Now, I come here to teach the kids whatever little I know, whenever I can. This place has made me what I am today. It is and forever will be a temple for me,” said Deepak with equal amounts of pride and emotion.

The academy also hosts an annual All-India Tournament that sees teams from Punjab, Haryana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh compete.

It is frequented by the likes of the legendary Gurbux Singh, while the Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers, the Hockey India League team from the state, also paid a visit last year.

“The tournament is organised every year with four local teams and four teams from other states, for both boys and girls. We do this so that the players here can compete with the best in the country at all times, because that is the only way they can become better,” Subir said.

However, like most grassroots initiatives, the academy is struggling to expand its facilities due to a lack of funds. While they previously arranged for the teams’ travel and stay during the tournament week, that simply isn’t an option anymore.

“The problem is that we have to make do with the bare minimum,” said Subir. “We don’t even need sponsors to pay us the money, even if they take a look at what we are trying to do and can support the kids in any way they can, that would be a huge help.

“Arranging meals for them, supporting their travel for outstation tournaments becomes a huge ask for us because we pay for everything from our own salaries. If there was a little more support, we could do a lot more for these kids,” he added.

Whether they find that support or not, the academy will keep doing what it does best — giving young people hope and a sense of purpose.

What they lack in financial might, they make up for in endeavour and passion. Because for them, hockey must survive in Kolkata, even if it is the silent sibling behind cricket and football in the city.