~Keen to attract more youngsters to the sport of hockey, Hockey India is organising a schools activation programme ahead of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela~
Bhubaneswar, 6th December 2022: Hockey has been one of India’s most prolific and popular sports since Independence. The Indian Men’s Hockey Team’s historic bronze-medal winning performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gave the fraternity plenty to cheer about, and helped attract new fans, the younger generations who hadn’t seen success at the highest level for some years.
To further build on that momentum and usher in a new generation of fans and players, Hockey India is taking the sport to schools as part of their School Activation Program ahead of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela.
As part of the promotional effort, a Hockey India team will visit 100 schools in Madhya Pradesh in the coming days to conduct a basic hockey skills session followed by a 5-a-side competition, as they hope to motivate young students to pick up the stick. A special memento will also be given to each School Principal in recognition of their efforts and contributions.
The campaign kicked off on 6th December 2022, Tuesday in Madhya Pradesh, in 14 schools across five regions - Narmadapuram, Ujjain, Indore, Bhopal, and Jabalpur. Around 2,000 students were present while over 500 kids directly participated on Day 1 of the school campaign.
The School Activation Programme will be implemented in other states as well in the upcoming weeks.
Speaking on the initiative, Dr Dilip Tirkey, Hockey India President said, "The idea behind this programme is to give young people an opportunity to experience what it's like to play hockey and how much fun it is. It also aims to pique their interest because some of these students may go on to play hockey professionally or develop into the sport's next major star.
Madhya Pradesh's Minister of State for School Education, Sh. Inder Singh Parmar said, "We are delighted with Hockey India's initiative to promote the sport of hockey among the younger generation. We believe that a lot of students will benefit from this program as they will not only learn about the sport but also develop a keen interest in it, which will lead to many future hockey stars originating from the state."
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