Should India hire a foreign hockey coach?

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 5:44 am

Pakistan recently hired Roelant Oltmans of Holland as their team coach. Most people feel that the Pakistani team has improved under the new coach and their second place showing at the Azlan Shah Cup tournament is a step in the right direction. The last time Pakistan had a foreign coach, a Dutchman Hans Jorritsma, in 1994, they won the World Cup in Sydney.

Tahir Zaman, the previous Pakistani coach, has said that the difference between a foreign and a local coach was not so much in knowledge as in the organisational skills. He specifically stated that the local coaches lacked in tactics, training methods and a planned approach.

Should India hire a foreign coach or stick with home grown talent? It is too late to make changes now with the Olympics in a few months but what should India do for the future or for the junior Indian team?

Indian hockey - foreign flavour is welcome

david · Post by **david** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 7:03 am

I wonder if India will ever go in for a foreign coach.

Like Tahir says, the main difference will be the administration because the Federations (whether India or Pakistan) deal differently with foreign coaches. that will help remove unnecessary interference from the federation officials.

Tahir himself is a good tactician like any other foreign coach. I have seen him with a video camera at the World Cup even before he became a coach. But will take some more time to blossom into a good coach.

India too had good coaches and Cedric is no less a tactician than any other in the world. But unfortunately he failed to get the results and faced the axe.

with a foreign coach the main advantage will be planning, implementatin and organisation. Not to mention the tactical superiority. The goals against us in first few minutes and dying minutes will immediately disappear.

sunnyd · Post by **sunnyd** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 8:33 pm

India is one of the oldest hockey-playing nations and such shouldn't really have too many problems getting a coach with good tactics and organization skills.

The question is : is the Hockey Federation hiring the right people? The last time we had a winning coach he was unceremoniously dumped. However, hiring a foreign coach will certainly reduce political interference in the team's matters.

suresh · Post by **suresh** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:41 am

It is not enough to choose a foreign coach and assume that he will be better than
an Indian one. I somehow feel that making the Indians play the European style may
not be a good idea. Maybe something intermediate as the Australians have successfully attempted might work better. Field hockey needs field goals to survive -- this is something that the Australians are aware and try not to depend on penalty corners alone. The bottom line is that a coach should produce good results and
maintain reasonable rapport with his players. Rajinder Singh seems to have achieved
the results but I am not too sure if he has been successful on the second count.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 9:29 am

I think it would be a good idea to have a foreigner as deputy coach, to concentrate on the technical aspects such as physical fitness, substitutions and all the other bells and whistles of modern hockey (including the psychological make-up of a champion team). India has not been a world-beating power in hockey for far too long.
Ric Charlesworth would be an excellent coach or senior consultant for the hockey team. It's not too late to get someone like him aboard before the qualifiers and the actual Olympic tournament.

david · Post by **david** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 11:29 am

Certainly Rajinder has a long way to go on the second count.

Though he achieved good results, we should not forget that they are not major tournaments. In the only major event, Champions Trophy, we finished fourth both the times.

But the bad thing is we lost many matches we should have won.

But of the lot, Rajinder seems to be the only choice we have right now. People like Ric Charlesworth are great, but I don't think anyone will accept the responsibility at this stage.

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 11:20 pm

I know more how coaching occurs in USA than in India and hence my two cent worth answer may or may not apply to the Indian team.

US teams usually have head coach, assistant coaches, trainers, managers and consultants (team doctors, psychologists, motivators, etc). US college teams have graduate students who are in the process of becoming assistant coaches. The professional teams also have General Managers and staff who look after the front end of the office - contracts, sponsorships, ads, etc.

From an Indian hockey point of view General Managers are not needed since KPS Gill, etc fulfill that role.

However, the Indian team could benefit from more assistant coaches. Reading what David has said in the past and what Coach Kaushik wrote in his book it appears that the powers-to-be are often reluctant to grant extra assistant coaches. The Indian team desperately needs "positional coaches" and coordinators (Goalkeeper coach, defender coach, offensive line coach, etc). This is where a "foreign" coach can be useful. The head coach (an Indian) and the coordinator can review films of the opposition, devise strategies, rotate players on the field, change the plans during the match if it is not working, etc. The coordinator usually sits high up in the stand to get a bird's eye view of the field and stays in touch with the head coach via a telecommunication system.

Do my suggestions make any sense for the Indian team?

sunnyd · Post by **sunnyd** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 1:18 am

Yes, I think it would most definitely help. The Indian cricket team has benefited (from a psychological aspect atleast) from foreign consultants.

suresh · Post by **suresh** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 4:52 am

Even though I put in the sole vote against the hiring of a foreign head-coach, I think
that the addition of support in the form of foreign asst. coaches is a good idea. It may
not be too late to do that even now. Ric Charlesworth would be a great addition
(he is probably one of the biggest fans of Indian hockey) but I think he is currently
the head coach of the Australian women's hockey team.

david · Post by **david** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 7:02 am

After the Sydney Olympic gold for Charlie's Angels Ric gave up the women's team.
Later in 2002 when he was in KL for World Cup as commentator he even offered his willingness to coach the Indian team but IHF did not come up with any offer.
Interestingly, Punjab Cricket Association approached him to coach their Ranji team. They sent a representative to talk to Ric at KL. But nothing came out of this too.

Kumar · Post by **Kumar** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 2:37 am

Bhushan for IHF president

. That's really a good idea. but the problem is finding a assistant FOREIGN coach who is ready to work for amount less than INDIAN head coach or we are going to find lot of ego hassles???

We can probably hire someone to improve the fitness of the players, but my feeling is he is going to still charge more than the indian head coach and I don't how federation takes to this idea.

I think Indians can experiment with the idea of HEAD foreign coach (maybe after the olympics) and see if the experiment works out. I am notsure of the financial position of the IHF. so that could be major roadblock too

david · Post by **david** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:31 am

BBS for President! Seconded!!

Kumarji, at present Indian coaches do only voluntary service. No payments. No salaries.
The first coach who raised the issue of a contract was Cedric. But it was not done. But somehow Cedric accepted the post on his own terms. Before the WC, IHF wanted to rope in a penalty corner specialist coach but could not accept his high fees. I think it is Bouvelander.

Bhushanji made some valid points. If IHF can be so sensible India would have won another Olympic medal long back.

But we already have a goalkeeper coach in Subbaiah and a qualified trainer for physical fitness. But usually our chief coaches don't allow the trainers to give full load to the players. When Cedric was bringing them to top physical condition many former players and administrators abused him saying he is giving too much fitness training. But still all the foreign coaches, even after that grind under Cedric, termed Indian team as very weak in fitness at the 2002 WC in KL.

We also had a PC specialist coach from Spain (Indian NRI) before the Olympics. The palyers also take psychology classed from qualified men from SAI. But I guess we should appoint some professionals for more organised training.

Sure Gill takes care of manager's work. But I have seen many coaches running in the last days of the camp to book flight tickets, get visas and passports for players. Coaches must be free of this kind of managerial work. The manager's post is a carrot which IHF doles out to all the voters and they go on a junket, making merry instead of working for hockey.

david · Post by **david** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:33 am

Forgot one more thing. Way back in 1995 SAF games, Cedric had his assistant coach sitting in the stands with a walie-talkie/headphones to discuss strategy.

Even CR Kumar used to do that.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 5:13 pm

The management of Indian hockey has improved in recent years, but we still have a lot of amateurism -- as reflected in the limited use of rolling substitutions, etc.
For a start, we need to separate the job of coach and manager. Then appoint a senior consultant to work closely with coach Rajinder Singh, and appoint 2-3 specialist assistant coaches, a physical trainer and psychologist to create a full-scale support infrastructure. That, and our innate talent, should ensure we win Olympic gold this year. But I doubt that the IHF is ready to move to such a professional model in a hurry.