Times of India: It’s ‘Mission 2016’ for coach Harendra Singh

By Jaspreet Sahni

CHANDIGARH: “It is not what the coach knows; it is what his players have learnt.” Winston Churchill couldn’t have put it in a better way. A coach’s success is mirrored in his players’ learnings. If everything is in order, the result takes care of itself. India’s junior men’s hockey coach is chasing that very dream.

When Harendra Singh was handed over 48 players in April 2014, he had a king-sized task at hand – to carve out a team for the 2016 Junior World Cup. That moment is upon him and he is ready with his top 18.

Going back to where it all began, Harendra had his plans neatly laid out. He christened the campaign ‘Mission 2016’, with a slogan: ‘We dream the same dream, we think the same thing, we are dream team, we are the Indian team; we are a champion team.’ “We chant the slogan before starting training or a match. Every player has it with him in his room, in print,” Harendra told TOI.

His plans didn’t take time to take effect, as the team returned home with the Sultan of Johor Cup trophy in 2014, and has never looked back since then. Besides the military-like focus inculcated in the team by Harendra, he also introduced 31 words for every situation the players find themselves in. All those words begin with ‘C’.

Going through that 31-word list, a surprising omission is the word ‘champion’, which has been deliberately kept out by the coach.