Despite several hurdles, this 12-year-old girl from the city is making news in hockey and she will be representing Andhra Pradesh in the national championship.
U. Varalakshmi is a Class VIII student in the Municipal Corporation High School for Girls at Salipeta. She hails from a fishermen’s family and she depends on her mother Manga’s hard-earned money who sells fish after her father Rambabu died during a cyclone three years ago.
Varalakshmi’s day begins at the District Sports Authority Stadium in the morning and after practising for a couple of hours, she returns home to proceed to school. After school she straightaway heads to the stadium to hone her skills under the watchful eyes of her coach.
Her performance in the State-level championship for girls in the sub-junior category in November last at Anantapur made her eligible to represent Andhra Pradesh in national hockey championship to be held at Ranchi in May, 2014. She is going to be trained at the RDT hockey academy in Anantapur from April 25.
“Varalakshmi is a promising player. Her dedication and hardwork are her plus points and she will be a crucial player for the State teams in the years to come,” says V. Ravi Raju, secretary of the Hockey East Godavari.
“She is balancing both her academics and hockey pretty well. What she needs is support from society,” says G. Varalakshmi and S. L. Kumari, both physical education trainers in the Salipeta school.
Incidentally both of them spotted the innate talent in U. Varalakshmi and encouraged her to up take the country’s original national game with gusto.
