Rani Rampal is the captain of the Indian women Hockey Team and an inspiration for many girls like me. So, let me tell you about her life and struggles.

Rani Rampal was born on December 4, 1994, in Shahbad, Haryana.  Her father was a cart vendor.  She was thrilled to play hockey from small age onwards and pleaded with her parents to let her play. But unfortunately, her parents initially refused to let her go . Rani's village didn't give women and girls the rights to leave their homes, Also her family was poor. But despite all odds, she continued to play. She didn't care about what others thought about her.

 In another instance from her life story, Rani was not able to afford an alarm clock.  In order to overcome this, her mom would look at the stars and wake her up at 4:00 or 4:30 am so that she could go to practice hockey. However, she got an opportunity. In her school, a  hand writing competition was announced with an alarm clock as the prize. Little Rani practiced for days and nights. She finally won.   This story reveals her hardworking nature right from her childhood days.

Rani Rampal's coach Mr. Baldev was very strict. They would have always additional sessions in which  snacks are not allowed. Rani and her friends used to sneak chickpeas. One day coach asked Rani to hit a reverse shot. But while hitting the shot, chickpeas fell all over the place. Seeing that ,coach scolded her. She never repeated the mistake even though she was so hungry in many occasions. She was fully focused and  ready to sacrifice anything, to become a good hockey player. We must always remember that no pain, No gain.

later, she suffered a back injury and eventually became underweight.  She was asked to lift weights to gain strength. She didn't know if she could overcome the pain. She did, but only after a painful year.

According to Menakshi  who was one of Rani's friends , there were two memorable moments in her life. One was when India qualified for the Olympics in 2016 and the second was when she received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna  Award, Which is India's highest sporting honor. Could you imagine the amount of time she spent for practicing to qualify India for the Olympics?  In the match, Rani hit the lucky goal and qualified India for the Olympics. That was an emotional moment for India and the Hockey Team.

As we all know in 2021, our women hockey team did an exceptional job under Rani's captaincy by entering the semifinals.  In Rani's village, girls now consider her as a role model  and started to play hockey and choose sports as their career.

Captain Rani exhibited exceptional qualities as an individual . She was hardworking and a determined person. Her attempts for improvement  shows that she's a motivation for many like me, to show the world that they shouldn't underestimate the power of girls. She even considers her losses as happy accidents. Let us all follow her path and strives hard to excel in Life.