“Silver nahi lena tha, gold hi chahiye tha,” Baljeet Kaur told The Tribune after the Indian women’s hockey team won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Japan. “I knew we would win gold.”The 25-year-old hockey player from Kaka Kandiala village in Tarn Taran was the only woman from Punjab in the national team that won the gold medal. Even before the tournament began, Baljeet had already made plans for her return. She had asked her elder brother, Dalsher Singh, a taxi driver, to arrange dhols to welcome her home.For a young woman who had grown up in a family that often struggled to make ends meet, the journey was far from easy.There were days when even following her coach’s advice on nutrition was a challenge. Her coach would repeatedly tell the players that a good diet was essential and ask them to eat chanas and almonds regularly. But for Baljeet ’s family, even these seemingly basic foods were sometimes beyond their means.“Our coach would say it was very important to have a good and proper diet. He would ask us every day to get chanas and badam,” she recalled. “When I did not have enough, I would ask other players to give me some so that my coach would be satisfied that I had eaten them too.”Her father, Lakhwinder Singh, worked as a labourer. Yet, despite the financial difficulties, he never asked his daughter to give up hockey.“My father was a labourer and was not earning much, but he never asked me not to play. He encouraged me and motivated me,” Baljeet said. Even asking her father for money was an emotional struggle.“I would ask my father for money with a lot of difficulty and embarrassment because I knew it was difficult for him to arrange it,” she said.Her mother, Rajwant Kaur, remembers how Lakhwinder would somehow manage to find the money whenever his daughter needed it. If necessary, he would borrow from others so that Baljeet could continue playing.For Baljeet, however, hockey had begun almost instinctively. She was inspired by a cousin who played the sport.“I would see her putting on her shoes and leaving in the morning to play. I think that was my calling,” she said.The family did not always understand where that calling would lead her. Her elder brother, Dalsher, admits that he once questioned why their father was spending money on Baljeet’s hockey.“I would often ask my father why he was spending money on Baljeet when she was only playing hockey. I thought she was avoiding her studies and that my father was wasting money on her,” he said.Today, those doubts have turned into pride.“Now I am so proud of her,” Dalsher said. “People who travel in my taxi often ask me about Baljeet and her story.”Now, Baljeet ’s wish is simple: that her village gets a proper sports ground.“I want the ground in my village to have proper facilities so that youngsters can play instead of getting into drugs,” she said.