SURREY — Vice Sports called him a “godfather” of ball hockey in a video they produced about him, but Smiter Kaila isn’t sure he likes the title.
“I guess I’m old,” the Fleetwood-area resident said with a laugh.
At age 42, Kaila is still a force on the ball hockey court, and he’s preparing to play once again in the world championships with Team India.
The squad includes an all-Canadian roster of players whose parents were born in India.
CLICK HERE to see the Vice Sports video.
Kaila will co-captain the team, which is scheduled to fly to the city of Pardubice, Czech Republic, for the world tournament in early June.
This spring, he’ll get in better shape for the tourney by playing with his club team, Vancouver Falcons, as part of the region’s Premier Ball Hockey League.
“I feel like I can still play the game – maybe not like I did before, because I feel a bit more sore the next day now, so it’s definitely catching up on me,” said Kaila, who will turn 43 on April 18.
Kaila and Team India scored a silver medal at the 2009 world ball hockey championships, also held in the Czech Republic, in an overtime game with the host squad.
The loss still lingers in Kaila’s memory, and he’s stoked to return to play in the country.
“The games there are pretty exciting, because the fans really get into it over there,” he told the Now-Leader. “They take ball hockey way more seriously, and their national team is a true national team, with proper funding and training and all that, but most of the other Canadian-type teams are put together just before the tourney, and then they head over.”
Team India is a strong squad this time around – probably the strongest in years, Kaila promised.
“We’ve got a lot more younger kids playing at the provincial and national level, whereas in the past we didn’t have that many,” he said.
“A few guys on this team played on that (2009) team as well, so we’ll be playing hard.”
Kaila was born and raised in Mackenzie, a town located north of Prince George. He played ball hockey there, of course, and a little ice hockey, too. As an adult, he moved to Surrey and began playing organized ball hockey, along with some games on ice.
He played ball hockey on Team Canada in the past.
“There are a lot of teams out there now,” Kaila explained, “and the game’s grown exponentially, with teams representing Great Britain, Bermuda, Italy, Portugal, even Haiti and Greece. Most of those teams are filled with Canadian-born players, or guys who live in Canada who have lineage in those other countries.
“The intention is to grow the game, right, and it is really growing,” he added, “so they allowed people with heritage of another country to play under that country’s name. I was born here in Canada but my parents were born in India, like everyone else on this team.”
“There are a lot of teams out there now,” Kaila explained, “and the game’s grown exponentially, with teams representing Great Britain, Bermuda, Italy, Portugal, even Haiti and Greece. Most of those teams are filled with Canadian-born players, or guys who live in Canada who have lineage in those other countries.
“The intention is to grow the game, right, and it is really growing,” he added, “so they allowed people with heritage of another country to play under that country’s name. I was born here in Canada but my parents were born in India, like everyone else on this team.”
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British Columbia is home to the majority of Team India players, and “five or six” live in Surrey, according to Kaila.
“Most of them are quite a bit younger than me, eight to 10 years younger, and most of them I’ve either played against, or with,over the years,” he said.
“I think one guy is maybe 19 years old, so he’s a lot younger than I am, but most of them are in their 30s. A lot of the older guys like me grew up just playing street hockey, but the younger players grew up playing organized ball hockey in the location associations, in Surrey or Delta or wherever, and then they moved on to the men’s leagues.”
To get to Pardubice, the team recently launched a GoFundMe page, dubbed “Team India Ball Hockey Goes 4 Gold,” with a goal of raising a cool $75,000 for travel expenses.
“Some of the best ball hockey players and role models in Canada will be going for gold this June in Pardubice, Czech Republic,” notes the page, which can be found at Gofundme.com/2107-team-india-ball-hockey-team.
“They spend a lot of time training to keep their skills top-notch, as well as mentoring other players, coaching kids and giving back to their communities.
“However they don’t get paid to be part of this tournament and actually have to pay their own way in order to participate. So let’s help out and make it easier for them to get there and represent the community at large.”
Elsewhere online, team information can be found at Facebook.com/IndiaBallHockey.
tom.zillich@thenownewspaper.com
