Economic Times: Indian hockey team for CWG chosen based on how players reacted to pressure of tournaments

By Sjoerd Marijne

India Men’s Hockey Coach

On being appointed as coach of the men’s team ahead of the 2017 Asia Cup, it was important for me to have an idea about the quality and depth of players in the squad. The best way to do that was in tournament conditions. To analyse players by only training camps is not as effective because there is no pressure. How a player reacts in a difficult match situation is different from how he reacts in everyday training.

Having tried different combinations in three major tournaments and one tour over these past few months, I believe the 18 we have picked is the best we have to win the gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. We were open about the process with the players. I understood there would be pressure on them as they could no longer take their place in the squad for granted.

Almost every player in the core group got to play two or more tournaments in the past five months. There has been talk about some experienced players having been left out of the team. But for me it is not about how they were in the past but how good they are now with international hockey changing so rapidly. Creating that internal competition gives us an insight into how players react to each other, how willing they are to take responsibility and even how much they want to help others improve.

I believe helping other players will help them develop their own performances. What we are searching for are team players. You don’t win tournaments with two or three extremely talented players. It does not work like that anymore. We need the entire team to work effectively as a single unit. We also analyse whether the players are ‘coach-able’, whether they are adapting to the changes we bring in the game or whether there is a limit to their learning process.

Between training and tournaments, there has been plenty of opportunities for players to showcase how driven they are and show us that they can be responsible for their own game and the team’s. The whole process has eventually helped us to pick this team. Not many countries have the privilege of playing so many events to help in picking the right players. But we have had that privilege over the past few months.

Since September last year, we have tested between 35-50 players who know how we want to play as the Indian Team. Some of these players who don’t make it into the team or the core group will go and play domestic tournaments and can teach other players what is necessary to play at the international level. We are hoping many players will benefit from this process.

As coaches and selectors, you don’t want to miss seeing new talent. David John, director, high performance, Hockey India, travels to different parts of the country where domestic tournament are played. We are keeping the selection process open for fresh talent to come in. While this process has been put into practice with our eyes set on the 2020 Olympic Games, it is imperative to ensure we are on track and be our best this year when we will also play the Asian Games and the World Cup in Bhubaneswar.

I am happy with the progress we have made but there is still a lot of work to do. The playerdriven approach is working well for the team and it excites me to see them take responsibility. They have a lot of clarity on what they want to achieve as a team and what are the areas they need to improve upon in order to achieve those targets. I see that this method has helped in individual growth as well as in team growth. We are closer to top countries now and on a good day can upset any team, regardless of their ranking.