Nothing is a matter of more pride for a teacher than a student’s accomplishments. And if that teacher is the first to have found a new champion, then the joy doubles.
Such is the situation with Simdega District Hockey Association president Manoj Kondegi these days. He has tips and advice at his fingertips for his big discovery — hockey whiz Salima Tete.
The youngster, currently at a camp in Bhubaneswar, will be leading the Indian women’s junior hockey team during the World Cup matches next month.
“Salima was never a shy girl. If she was hungry, she would demand an apple,” Kondegi recalls with fondness.
Tete was 10 years old when her father, Sulakshan Tete, brought her to the district hockey ground. Her raw talent impressed Kondegi, who runs the Navyuvak Sangh sports club in Jharkhand and organises regular matches for villages in the vicinity.
The coach wanted Tete to be admitted to a sports academy, to sharpen her skills. But Sulakshan Tete was only a marginal farmer from Barki Chanpi village and his wife, Subani, cooked midday meals at a local school.
With a large family of five daughters and one son to consider, he was reluctant, considering the costs, though himself a hockey team player.
Kondegi, however, was not one to give up easily. He cajoled Sulakshan Tete — promising everything free of cost — into admitting his daughter into the Residential Hockey Training Centre, Simdega.
Despite her genetic predilection for the game, it took Tete two years of hard work to make any headway. After representing sub-junior teams at the state and national levels, she was finally selected for the Indian camp in 2016 and never looked back.
Meanwhile, Tete also passed her class XII exams and secured a job in the Indian Railways. “Her younger sister Mahima too has been selected for the Indian camp. Her brother Anmol also plays but he needs to work hard,” says Kondegi.
The arduous journey has been well worth the while for this sports guru.
