Away from practice and on-field activities because of lockdown? Worry not. Hockey Simdega, an affiliate of Jharkhand Hockey, on Monday announced a mask making contest for cash-strapped players to help them remain occupied at home constructively and fight lockdown blues.

Hockey Simdega general secretary Manoj Konbegi said the contest will be open till August 20 by which players can WhatsApp (9973839163/9973412393) or email (hockeysimdega1@gmail.com) pictures of their homemade masks to win attractive cash prizes. Konbegi said that the jury will pick top 10 winners.

“With continued lockdown, we are coming across several players reeling under depression and fear of losing future prospects. Most importantly, a district like Simdega where poverty is high, the sense of fear and uncertainty among players, who are also coping up with domestic issues, are more. Hence, we thought of engaging these players in an innovative way,” said Konbegi.

Konbegi added that athletes of any discipline based in Simdega can participate in the competition. “But for those outside Simdega, we have decided to allow entries only for hockey players. This is to lessen the crowd. If it is successful, we shall plan more such activities in the coming days,” said Konbegi, who along with his team has been trying to individually extend help players of the district to beat the crisis.

“During the lockdown, we have provided ration and financial help to over a dozen players, who were battling poverty. But we, too, have resource and financial crunch. With all the state-run residential sports cradles closed at the moment, many players who are at home are also facing issues of getting proper diet due to which we are coming across reports of their weight loss, which could prove detrimental to their game in future. We have requested the government to chalk out some measures to address this problem,” he said.