I Met Hockey Girls

I hid from Sports my whole academic life. In school, because I was always thin and athletically built, everyone always assumed I could do sports. I couldn’t. Still can’t. Even in college, when Mamu and I joined NSO as a last resort because it didn’t work out for NSS and NCC for us, I still couldn’t do Sports. We did aerobics instead. We’d wake up early and jump around to Get Down by the Backstreet Boys long after they were no longer popular. And during the Sports meet, we were on ball duty for tennis and we got hit by stray balls and they took pity on us and told us to go stand at the archery section. I don’t remember if we did. I think we didn’t and we just bunked off, because if a ball could hit us and it hurt, it would hurt a lot worse with the archery gang.

I don’t even like Quidditch in Potterverse. I also don’t like Krikkit in Guide-verse, although I don’t think anyone really likes Krikkits in any part of the universe. The feeling is mutual, though, so no love lost.

What I like is stories. I have always loved stories. People assume often that I like reading. This is only partly true. I like reading stories. I also like watching stories. Or listening to stories. Sometimes that last bit is also called gossiping but I like that too, especially when the tea is hot and it is served well with a good side dish. And I am not on the menu, thank you.

Which is a very self-absorbed way of talking about the hockey team I met today. They looked like they’re five but they were state champions! Apparently it was not a full team or something and they played on a smaller field with lesser people on the team. I don’t know how many people are on a hockey team and how the scoring system is and what merits a penalty. I don’t even know for how long a game lasts.

What I knew was that they were troopers! They were already doing things with their lives that they liked and enjoyed doing! At their age, I was studying and/or indulging in tomfoolery. It was not because I liked studying but the fear of the Lord and of the parents had been instilled in me long ago and I had been brainwashed into thinking good grades proved that I was a good girl, much like a Protestant puritan during Max Weber’s time. But these kids were doing something they liked and doing it as a team! I only learned the deep-rooted benefits of teamwork as an adult; they already got it. I think Sports does this easiest and best. No wonder I didn’t learn it until much later.

They had so much discipline and I really liked that. They looked nice and no-nonsense, but chilled. I could tell they were bored with the endless speeches by the end but the fidgeting was truly kept to the very barest of minimums. I wanted to see if they cracked so I kept my phone away as well to see if I could match their non-fidgeting. I cracked before they did. They had this aura of quiet confidence that is lacking even in adults, even in adults who are leaders. So many times, arrogance is used as a mask for confidence when really, they’re not the same at all. These kids had this really cool, calm confidence that only Sports can give, I think; or maybe offer it easiest. I am quite sure it won’t translate to all other areas of life, but to have this nook that you can turn to that gives you endorphin high while boosting your health and your sense of self? Very good for Sports.

For an active person, it is surprising that I don’t like sports very much. Or at all. I admire the discipline, but I am too ill-coordinated. And sports doesn’t have very nice stories. They have very inspiring ones but those tend to make me feel less than, and not beget me to push myself further or those nice things. I am not well.

The girls were very young. And luckily for them, this is a young district. I hope that they will become trailblazers for others in the years ahead. They have that potential. I hope they keep at it and can make a living out of hockey. And I hope that if not, they will always remember this rush and this championship and the memory of it will produce the brightest and strongest Patronus for them.

I really don’t know anything about hockey. My mother used to play when she was a girl. And she said that one of the girls would wear a long skirt when she played goalkeeper and that was not very fair because when she stood with her feet apart, her skirt acted like a giant impenetrable net. I think I agree with her.