Father Schoch under-14 hockey tournament: nine Pune schools fight it out for title

The tournament, a joint initiative by the Ex Loyola Students Network (ELAN) and Loyola High School, Pune, is being conducted as a mark of respect to the legendary educationalist Reverent Father Schoch.

Nine city school teams will lock horns in the inaugural edition of the Father Schoch Memorial (under-14) inter-school hockey tournament which will begin at the Major Dhyanchand Hockey Stadium in Nehrunagar-Pimpri from Monday.

In tribute of Father Schoch’s contribution on and off the field, both ELAN and Loyola HS put together the idea for promoting India’s national sport, hockey, with an aim to make an entrance at the grassroots level via an ‘exclusive’ age-group tournament. (HT PHOTO)

The tournament, a joint initiative by the Ex Loyola Students Network (ELAN) and Loyola High School, Pune, is being conducted as a mark of respect to the legendary educationalist Reverent Father Schoch. In tribute of Father Schoch’s contribution on and off the field, both ELAN and Loyola HS put together the idea for promoting India’s national sport, hockey, with an aim to make an entrance at the grassroots level via an ‘exclusive’ age-group tournament.

Moreover, as an institution based in a city that boasts of Olympic stalwarts, a tournament for schools remains the perfect platform for promoting the sport and the ideologies associated with it.

The tournament will be held in a league-cum-knock-out basis. The nine participating teams have been divided into two pools. The top two teams of each group will advance into the knock-out stage, beginning with the semi-finals. The final has been slated for Saturday (January 13).

Meanwhile, hosts Loyola High School, Pashan, have been drawn in Pool-B and will brace the challenge presented by Modern High School, Shivajinagar, Netaji Subhashchandra Bose Boys' Military School, Phulgaon, and PCMC school. Loyola will begin their campaign with a match against PCMC school.

Pool-A comprises of St Ursula High School, Nigdi; SNBP; BK Birla Centre for Education, Shirgaon; Jyoti English Medium School, Nehrunagar and Shri Anantrao Kulkarni English Medium School (SAKEMS).

GROUPS

Pool A: St Ursula High School; SNBP; BK Birla Centre for Education; Jyoti English Medium School; Shri Anantrao Kulkarni English Medium School (SAKEMS)

Pool B: Loyola High School; Modern High School; Netaji Subhashchandra Bose Boys' Military School; PCMC school