YEARS on hockey fields across Fiji and overseas have given Divyankar Kumar more than medals and memories. they have shaped the player she became and the coach she is now becoming.
After a decade of local and international experience, Kumar has entered a new chapter with Phoenix women’s hockey team, taking on the dual role of player and coach as the team made its debut at this year’s 30th Anniversary Marist Eastgate Memorial Tournament last weekend.
For the veteran, coaching is not a departure from her playing career, it is an extension of it.
“I saw it as an opportunity to come back home and give back to the sport,” she said.
Her hockey journey began at national level in 2017 when she first represented Fiji, opening the door to experiences that would take her well beyond the local game. She then travelled to Oman with the national team for the 2024 FIH Hockey5s World Cup and was part of the Fiji squad at the 2023 Pacific Games where they won gold.
For the past three years, she has also travelled to New Zealand for the NZ Heritage competition, facing different teams and experiencing different styles of hockey.
In 2024, she played for East Coast Bays Premier Ones in the North Harbour Hockey League, while also representing Counties at the National Hockey Championship and Pukekohe in the New Zealand Indian hockey competition.
Those experiences changed the way she saw the game.
Every coach, teammate, competition and new environment added another lesson, whether it was about decision-making, discipline, leadership or understanding the game as a whole.
After 10 years with Marist, Kumar felt it was time to turn those lessons into something that could benefit younger players.
“I have a lot that I had learned, so I wanted to give back,” she said.
That is where Phoenix comes in.
The young team brings together players with different backgrounds and levels of experience. For Kumar, that has meant learning how to teach the game as well as play it.
“It’s challenging but at the same time very rewarding,” she said.
She has also continued playing alongside the players she coaches, giving her an opportunity to lead by example and remain connected to the demands of the game.
Her years as a midfielder have influenced the way she approaches coaching.
“Being able to control the whole team is something that I had learned over the years,” she said.
That understanding will be tested when Phoenix takes on established opposition including Benches, Marist and Stingers at the tournament.
But Kumar is looking beyond the results.
She wants her players to experience the pressure of competition, build confidence and understand that hockey can open doors if they are willing to keep learning.
Her own career is proof of that.
What started with Marist took Kumar to the Fiji national team and abroad and now, she hopes the lessons from that journey can help Phoenix players begin their own.
INSET: Phoenix women’s hockey team debuting at this year’s 30th Anniversary Marist Eastgate Memorial Tournament.
