I was in Grade 3 then and I remember every student in school spending a lot of time during and after school hours playing hockey. In retrospect, the idea behind the compulsion I think, was not to make all of us hockey players but to expose all of us to the thrill of an amazing sport.

Our school had always been famous for sports and had produced some legendary sportsmen in the fields of cricket, hockey, athletics and football. This did not happen by chance. There always was a concerted effort to encourage sports among students and the support and infrastructure provided was excellent. The sports department had a director, senior staff, junior staff and several qualified support staff. They were not pot-bellied middle-aged men who sat by the side of the field and directed students, but were active participants in the learning process and taught us by example not theory.
I can never forget the days when our entire school from Grades 3 to 10, almost 1000 boys walked 8 kms to witness a hockey match at the Sullivan Police Grounds near Brigade Road. The cheering, energy, excitement and the bonding that we witnessed is rarely seen today. I am sure today if something like that is done by schools, parents will file a case against the school for cruelty against children!.

In addition to sports, our school encouraged Cubs, Scouts and NCC among its students. My Hindi teacher doubled up as our Scouts master, my Hhistory teacher was the Cubs guide and the accounts teacher was the NCC coordinator. Years later I heard the term multi-tasking, I did not need a corporate management lesson to understand it. Years ago my teachers were doing it so effortlessly.

Another important aspect was the fact that students who were good at sports were given a lot of support from the academic teachers to cope with their studies. This goes to rpove that my school was also in the top league of schools in academics. Father Hilary Periera was my school principal and he must have been almost 60 years old at that time. I distinctly remember him wearing a white robe and holding a hockey stick and giving a tip or two to the hockey team. This is despite him having a limp in his leg and back problems.

Every time we won a final match we promptly got a holiday the next day. That is how important a sport victory was for us. Our school did not have to have a special diet laid out for us. We were young boys capable of digesting anything given to us and being fit was not a buzzword; it was a way of life for us. Sports was not a part of our school, it was a passion that ran right through the system!