Hockey is a competition between two teams of 11 players each, comprising of a goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and forwards. A match consists of four quarters of 15 minutes each, and the team to score more goals wins. Only the goalkeeper is allowed to use any part of their body to control the ball at any time. 

The captain of the BITS Hockey team, Nihal Priyadarshi said that they began their training for BOSM as early as the 2^nd of August, practising for about 3 hours every evening after classes. They started practising for 5 hours from 22^nd August, with an additional morning practice session from 6 to 8 am. In the week leading up to BOSM, he said that their focus is on playing as many practice matches, and maintain their fitness before the fest. Most of the problems faced by the team in training were in managerial aspects such as lack of field preparation and delay in inventory. They felt that the management has been quite ignorant towards their problems. Speaking about where he feels the team needs to improve, the captain said ‘We need more involvement of first years. They need to have patience and understand that it takes time to learn the sport before they start expecting results.’ He also said that the overall coordination among team members during the game needed improvement and that playing more matches during practice was the best way. 

The BITS Hockey team won gold in BOSM 2017, the first in the team’s history, and placed third in BOSM 2018. Most recently, they also won the bronze medal in IIT Delhi’s sports tournament. The captain named One Thousand Hockey Legs and Tata Institute of Textile and Sciences as their main competitors, the former being the winners of BOSM ’18. He also mentioned SRCC and Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce as teams to look out for.  The coach and himself have been strategizing, and that their plan is to observe their matches and learn as much about them as possible. 

Nihal explained that they had 15 to 20 first years practising with them initially, of which about 5 still practice regularly with them, though none of them is a part of the playing eleven this BOSM. it wasn’t possible to give the juniors the required attention while also having to train for the upcoming competition— thus they plan to recruit first years after BOSM. They gather first years by scouting hostels and they convince the juniors to come for practice which results in a number of people appearing for training sessions. Some are recruited into the team after a few weeks of practice. He added that the team prides itself on being open to anyone practising with the team, given that they are genuinely interested in learning the sport.

As far as his experience being the captain goes, Nihal said that although it’s a difficult job with a wide range of responsibilities, being a captain is also greatly fulfilling and enriching and he is thankful to the people who helped him achieve this post. When asked about how being the captain has affected his personal game, his response was that the it hasn’t changed his game in any significant way apart from requiring him to be more vigilant about the other team members during a match. 

In regards to the overall conduction of the fest, Nihal said that the main issue he sees with the fest every year is the damage caused by the rain and that the management has ‘done nothing about the problem’. He hopes that a solution will be found for this so that the immense hard work put in by the people involved does not go in vain. 

Nihal remarked that he had no experience with hockey prior to joining college the passion of the seniors in the team about the sport and their willingness to help juniors learn it drew him to hockey initially, and now it is an essential part of his life at BITS. In fact, hockey and his team are his first priorities. Although he does not believe that he will be able to pursue hockey as a profession in the future, he said that the discipline and importance of a good team dynamic that he has learnt playing for the hockey team are things that he will implement in whatever profession he chooses.