mid-day's 42nd anniversary: Streetside stickwork!

The Hockey RunPrabhjyot Sethi 55 Navjot Sethi 51 Amit Kasodekar 46 Richard Alphons 52 Sanah Patel 30Amol Sathe 48 Ganesh Pillai 49Undeterred by the fact that they had no turf to get their regular dose of sporting adventure this enthusiastic bunch took to the streets of Pune and had a ballIt IS rightly said that necessity is the mother of invention The Hockey Run is one such invention by a group of friends who refused to be bogged down by the Coronaviruscaused lockdownThe brainchild of Punebased advertising professionals and brothers Prabhjyot 55 and Navjot Sethi 51 The Hockey Run is a simple runandpass routine of hockey but played across a street rather than a maidan or groundIt so happened that the Sethi brothers and five of their friendsmdashAmit Kasodekar 46 Richard Alphons 52 Sanah Patel 30 Amol Sathe 48 and Ganesh Pillai 49mdashwho regularly enjoyed a game of hockey at the Pune racecourse ground were suddenly left with nowhere to play when public places were shut last year due to the COVID19 pandemic So with the gates of their playground shut they simply started passing the ball around to each other on the street as they headed back to their nearby homes They began dribbling each other for fun and started enjoying it ldquoand thatrsquos how The Hockey Run was bornrdquo Prabhjyot tells midday recentlyThe group soon began meeting up regularly to practise their special run ldquoWe always played hockey but as far as The Hockey Run is concerned it was not a planned thing It began out of serendipity but now we enjoy it The Hockey Run belongs to the seven of us Itrsquos challenging because while we dribble one other we also have to watch out for vehicular traffic the general people and morning walkers But since all of us played hockey at some level or the other as youngsters we have a fair bit of control so we havenrsquot hurt anyone The running bit makes it interesting Itrsquos actually a jog but a good fitness activity nevertheless And of course we ensure we maintain social distancing throughout the hourlong routinerdquo adds PrabhjyotNavjot reveals that their unique drill tends to attract some raised eyebrows as playing hockey on the road like this is a rarity ldquoWhen people saw us initially many would stare at us but thankfully most people have been accommodating and we have had little or no complaints We just get the odd glare now and then to which we respond with a smilerdquo says NavjotPrabhjyot says The Hockey Run has also helped the group lose weight ldquoAs days progressed we incorporated little scoops and flicks into our run Each one of us has lost around seven to eight kilos due to The Hockey Runrdquo he saysThe Hockey Run has recently switched lsquoturfrsquo from concrete streets to muddy paths lining the green hillocks near NIBM Road in Pune ldquoWe all stay within five kilometres of NIBM Road which has some upanddown hilly tracks There is a place called Taljai Hills a forest reserve where we now do The Hockey Run The hilly terrain increases the intensity of the challengerdquo adds NavjotInterestingly the friendly exercise is poised to become a social initiative it seems ldquoMany people enjoy watching our routine and that has inspired us to take things to a larger scale We want to pay tribute to the Indian menrsquos and womenrsquos hockey teams that will be competing at the Tokyo Olympics We are thinking of initiating a Run for India or Run for Indian Hockey campaign We donrsquot want to label this as a movement but want people to come out of their homes and find a small street or lane or even on their terrace and shoot a video and dedicate it to this campaign We believe that if we oldies can inspire even one person to promote or support hockey or rethink his or her fitness goals our job is donerdquo says PrabhjyotThe men behind The Hockey Run recently caught the attention of ad professional Tanmay Biyani 24 who was driving through the lanes of Pune Biyani decided to make a short clip on the group and the snippet has been very well received on social media ldquoI was born and brought up in Pune but currently work in Bangalore During one of my visits to Pune recently to meet my parents one morning when I was driving I saw these guys passing the ball from one corner of the road to another I found it fascinating I have travelled to many places in India but never have I seen something like this I have seen people play gully cricket or rink football on the roads but Irsquove never seen anyone play hockey on the street I decided to shoot them I wrote a little story accompanying the clip which explains what the run means to these guys and how it all started I shot the video in June and it has been a hit online The Hockey Run is a breakthrough idea that emerged from adversity I felt it had to be recorded for posterityrdquo Biyani concludedAlso Read middays 42nd anniversary An allrounder in the true sense