LUCKNOW, March 18 -- A sharp whistle at the Mohd Shahid Synthetic Hockey Stadium informs residents living around the stadium in Lucknow's Gomti Nagar every morning that they will soon hear the sound of trainees hitting balls into the goals. Over 25 trainees of the state government-run hockey hostel undergo strenuous training under former India captain Rajnish Mishra, who is a FIH Grade 2 coach. "For us, hockey isn't just a game, but a tradition. We believe in the legacy of our greats, Dhayan Chand, and KD Singh Babu. I feel there has to be a consistent presence of Uttar Pradesh players in the national camps as well as in the India team," said Mishra, who is also the secretary of Uttar Pradesh Hockey. "If you do correct home work, you will surely get success and that's why I don't allow my trainees to miss a single training session. We are aiming for a podium finish in all three nationals in the upcoming season," he said. Uttar Pradesh have been consistent performers at the senior nationals for the last two seasons, claiming silver in 2015 and 2021 and bronze in 2014, 2024 and 2025 editions. Uttar Pradesh men won silver at the National Games in 2022 and 2025, and a bronze medal in 2023. In 2019, they were runners-up in the five-a-side men's nationals. "In the last two editions we missed our top players as they were busy with the India side in various international events. This time we have chalked out a plan to create a pool of strong players so there is no effect even if we miss our stars," said Mishra, a solid defender of his time. "We have been conducting regular camps of probables here," said Mishra, who also acts as a talent scout in the off-season. "We have plenty of hockey nurseries across the state and one can see centres like the one in Ghazipur have become a supply centre for junior and senior India teams." Unlike their seniors, Uttar Pradesh have done much better in junior categories in the last five seasons. Their junior men won back-to-back gold medals in 2021 and 2022 seasons before winning a silver in the 2024 edition. The sub-junior men won a hat-trick of gold medals in 2022, 2023 and 2024 before finishing third in 2025. They also won silver both in under-17 and under-21 categories in Khelo India Youth Games in 2020, besides winning a silver in under-18 category in 2022. Uttar Pradesh Hockey chief, RP Singh said the body was now working with a structure in place. "We have units across the state and they all have been conducting regular events and spotting talents for our camps on a regular basis." "We have set up an unique system to tap talent and that's why we are feeding talents to the national sides on a regular basis," said Singh, who is also the chief selector of Hockey India. "We have a transparent selection system in the state and there is no dearth of talent." The new hockey season begins with the women's sub-junior nationals, at Ranchi from April 1.The men's sub-junior championship takes place at Rajgir, Bihar from April 1....