Munna Singh and his elder brother Sonu love to play hockey and dream of making a career out of it. But their dreams suffered a jolt when their father, a daily wage earner, became jobless once lockdown was imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus. A week into the lockdown, Munna and Sonu — aged 11 and 12, respectively — started feeling pangs of hunger.

Many other budding hockey players, who train at Entally Hockey Academy, were faced with an almost similar situation as the state announced complete lockdown in March. But all of them still dare to dream, thanks to the academy.

The academy has gone out of its way to help players survive this pandemic and keep their dreams alive. It provided food and other items of necessity to its trainees. The provisions were given every week since the last week of March for two months.

It has also extended a helping hand to the families of some of the players. “We have some very promising players and we can’t just let them suffer in this pandemic situation. At a time when Bengal hockey is at its nadir, we have to keep these young players’ dreams alive to help keep the game afloat in the state,” said Subir Kumar Pan, the secretary-cum-coach of Entally Hockey Academy.

The academy distributed the items not only among its 50 trainees, but also to around 2,000 underprivileged families in the Entally area. They gave all players a new kit on Independence Day and has plans to distribute more kits on Saturday, the birth anniversary of Dhyan Chand.

“We have a few players who can’t even afford a jersey or boots. Munna is a brilliant forward and he has a never-say-die attitude, but his biggest problem now is that he plays with borrowed boots that are bigger than his feet,” said Pan.

Swarnendu Barui, who has been representing Bengal in the under-14 category for the last three years and was the captain of the side last year, said: “I have been training at the academy for the last five years and never did I have to worry about my jersey, shorts or boots. The academy has always provided me with all those things. When the lockdown began, my father, a cab driver, was finding it difficult to run the family. The academy helped us a lot and now I’m confident of pursuing my dream of donning the India jersey one day.”