Village to India team: Pooja Yadav’s hockey dream sparked by shoes with stars

Villagers of Gangapur in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi district never quite questioned Mahendra Yadav when he encouraged the youngest of his five daughters, Pooja, to pursue hockey. But neighbours and relatives would often toss a throwaway line: “Hockey mein kuchh nahi hoga iska (She won’t get anywhere in hockey).” Mahendra would nod and say nothing.

As Pooja, 20, made it to the Indian hockey team last week, she recalls how her father — a milkman who also tended to the fields — bought her first pair of playing shoes, from the local shoe shop. “The shop owner had a young family. So my father told him he would deliver milk until the shopkeeper had recovered the cost of the shoes. It took a month and half, but I had my first shoes. They had two golden stars,” recalls Pooja of her journey towards being the “only woman from Benaras to ever play for India”.

Playing cricket with the boys helped her in the early days. “One day I spotted hockey at school and was trained by a coach. But those early days of playing cricket helped because I always believed I was equal to the boys,” she says. “Growing up, I was the only girl playing hockey. After hearing of my India selection, now even the villagers are happy. Maybe more girls will play.”

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The national call-up was a source of huge pride for mother Kalavati and Pooja’s four sisters, all married and stay-at-home wives. “My mother was the one who wouldn’t let me give up. But my four sisters are all supportive and keep telling me they want me to do what they never even dreamt of. They kept pushing me even after I failed the trials. They would tell me to skip housework and go out to train instead,” she says.

The family of five sisters, parents, and a brother tilled a small patch of land and owned two buffaloes. While Mahendra turned to milk delivery and worked without a pause, Kalavati tended to the crops. And Pooja played.

The shoes with the golden stars, however, would wear out soon, and Pooja knew she had to secure a spot at the Lucknow sports hostel so the parents wouldn’t have to spend on her diet and equipment. Five years ago, she found herself at the SAI hostel in Lucknow.

Pooja says she always follows her mother’s advice of not being deterred by failures. “My father is proud I persisted because I had failed my first trials,” she says.

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The early failures came with their share of sceptics. At one point, the pessimism around her got so dire that Pooja would invite the doubters home and forcibly make them watch reruns of ‘Chak de India!’. “I first showed it to my parents and it used to make them very happy imagining I would be like that someday. But it was more important that those who repeated that I wouldn’t be able to make a life out of hockey watched it too,” she recalls.

All those reruns of Chak de didn’t go waste as Pooja was picked for the nationals camp in Bengaluru last month.

While she looks up to her seniors Navneet Kaur and Neha Goyal, it is Sushila Chanu who has taken Pooja under her wings at the national camp. “I went in with a huge fear of making mistakes. But Sushila didi has been teaching me not to be afraid and always focus on the next match. She keeps stressing that when I receive the ball I should look up, scan the field for exact positioning and not make wrong passes.

We can’t lose possession,” she says.

The camp in Bengaluru was also the first time her diet had dry fruits and soups instead of the daal-chawal served at hostels. “We never knew there was anything beyond daal-chawal, roti-sabzi, and even that was huge for someone from a poor family. Now we eat food that actually helps in sport for strength,” she says.

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India women’s head coach Harendra Singh says Pooja is skilled and is a fast learner. “Good passing skills and peripheral vision are what she showed at the nationals. Also, at the camps, she showed improvements, gelling with players, and tactical awareness. Now she needs exposure to cope with top teams like Australia,” he says.

A national selector who oversaw the trials attests to Pooja’s talent. “She has a very good game sense, defence and distribution. Her nimbleness in the midfield helps her to intercept well and defend well and also prompt the attack. Her fitness levels are also high. She doesn’t overcarry — distributes and goes up to support. That’s a good thing because in the centre of the field, you can’t have a shaky structure.”

Coach Harendra is excited about his ward from Varanasi. “The city of Mahadeva has contributed to Indian hockey in a big way. Hockey legend Mohd Shahid Saab was from Varanasi and internationals Vivek Singh, Rahul Singh, Prashant Singh are from there too. Currently in the men’s squad, we have Lalit Upadhyay. The Ghazipur-Varanasi-Mirzapur belt is the centre of artistic hockey. Pooja will be a role model for upcoming players and the young generation in the women’s team,” he says.

Pooja still watches cricket, especially IPL, and is a fan of Hardik Pandya. But in her spare time, she likes reading stories of athletes from around the world. “Last Sunday, I read about a Pakistani player from a very poor background, and was very inspired. I don’t remember his name, not even his sport… It was either football or badminton. But the story struck a chord.”

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