Narender Kumar Gautam, like the tireless midfielder he was in his playing days, has nurtured hockey grassroots in Sonepat, Haryana, for almost 40 years. Reflecting on his role, the former Punjab State Electricity Board player, gives you an amazing insight on what it takes being a successful coach of young players.

Unsung hero Narender Gautam in his 20s

He has been eating, drinking and sleeping coaching ever since he started his journey in 1987 with Sports Authority of India (SAI). It was then that Gautam was posted at CRZ Senior Secondary School, Sonepat, which had recently been adopted by SAI under the National Sports Talent Contest (NSTC) scheme.

His appointment transformed hockey fortunes for the school.

“Before my posting at Sonepat, no player from the city had ever made it to the State or India team,” says the 64-year-old who holds an N.I.S. (Patiala) diploma after training under the legendary Balkishen Singh in 1977-78.  After I joined, I was able to establish a strong training centre under SAI schemes for young boys in their formative years.”

It was a turnaround for CRZ. The school began to dominate state and national level tournaments. And more.

Young Narender in his 20s

“Trainees from my centre started to knock on the doors of Indian national team,” Gautam says, going down memory lane. But it wasn’t easy.

“It never is when you coach players in their formative years. If you look at it as a job, you would fail. It’s a vocation and it takes passion to play the role for years on end,” he adds.

“You need a special talent for the task. And your efforts should come from the heart,” Gautam says. That, of course, is not all according to the chief coach and selector for Hockey Haryana who retired from SAI in 2016.

“You must have practical knowledge about the sport and must have played at a certain level, perhaps for a very good departmental team for 4-5 years. By then, a player has a wide range of experience that includes pressure, goals scored, missed and conceded.  He has also experienced good and bad spectators, organizers, facilities, equipment and conditions,” says Gautam, whose duty as a player took him to events such as the Bombay Gold Cup and Delhi’s Nehru Cup.

Early product of coach Gautam (l-r): Ravinder Singh, Bharat Chhikara and Mandeep Antil

According to him, it takes 7-10 years to produce a player for the junior national team.

“I consider myself lucky to have got a chance to guide CRZ School under the auspices of SAI,” Gautam says, gratitude oozing. Surely all those nuggets of experience must have come together for Gautam and CRZ. The team won their first state level championship in 1988 and the first national level championship in 1990. Then came a heart-warming moment.

Early birds Virender Singh & Ravinder Singh

“Surender Kundu became my first trainee to be selected to India’s junior national squad for a test series in Kenya in 1993. Then, I was appointed coach of the Indian team in 1994 for Asian School Games where we won the gold medal. Four trainees from my centre were in the team. From then on players from my centre have served domestic teams and Indian teams continuously,” Gautam reveals.

Current India player Sumit

Midfielder Sumit and defender Surender Kumar, regular India players of today, are Gautam’s products.

Gautam explains the toughness of the task at the grassroots.

“It’s just you the coach to handle a range of tasks. And hockey is just a part of it. The player’s academic progress has to be monitored. It means dealing with teachers and parents. There is also injury and illness and frantic trips to the hospital. Then, with the boys in their juvenile years, come emotional problems and challenges”.

Jr World Cup goldie Manpreet Singh Jr. with his formative days coach Gautam

“It occasionally leads to frayed tempers and I’ve found myself sorting things out at the police station! “So you see, the role calls for being a father, mother, guardian, teacher and friend… besides being a hockey coach,” Gautam says light-heartedly but with a serious undertone.

The national team has a staff of 10 or 11 across whom duties are delegated, he points out. “At the school level it’s just one person – the coach, who is everything rolled into one,” Gautam spells out the travails of the task.

Narender’s another product who shone for long, Pardeep Mor

Then, there is the dilemma of selection. “You have a group of 60-80 boys. Even if you have to reduce it to 30 probables, you must leave out several players good enough to be selected,” Gautam explains.

“It’s heartbreaking to sideline a boy who is good but can’t find a place because of the limited size of the group. It often leads to confrontation with parents which requires composure and tact to deal with,” he says, pain in his voice.

Then there is the challenge of meeting expenses. Says Gautam, “Hockey is a very expensive game to pursue. It’s tough to make ends meet. Equipment is costly and it all hinges on the support of the school principal. “At CRZ, hockey was close to the heart of the principal Mr Dalip Singh and it made a difference,” Gautam fondly recalls.

His career however took a detour in 2006 when the SAI scheme at CRZ was discontinued. Gautam, however, carried his tutelage to SAI Northern Regional Centre at Sonepat itself where he was appointed Chief Coach. It soon became one of the strongest training centres in the country, churning out talent year after year that represented SAI and Haryana.

Another product Mandeep Antil  outwitting Tom Alain Boon (Begium) in the 2009 Jr WC.                Photo K. Arumugam

Gautam had already generated an assembly line of sorts in the NSTC scheme where he oversaw the cream of national talent. Under his tutelage was Rajesh Chauhan, Rajiv Misra, Bharat Chikara and Sumit — three from a long list who went on to don national colours.

But his most rewarding moment arrived in 2007.

Vikas Dahiya, Jr WC goldie, rates Narender high point in his career

“Being appointed coach for an India U-18 team to visit Singapore for the Challenge Cup filled me with pride. After all, I was going to represent the country,” Gautam says, recollecting the silver medal winning campaign.

Another moment deeply etched in his memory was learning of his ward Ashok being summoned to the India camp two decades earlier. “This was when I served the Sports Department of Haryana in Rohtak,” Gautam recalls. “It came along with the news that I was appointed CRZ coach.”

Sandeep Sangwan teams up with Narender Gautam; the combo turns out to successful for Haryana State teams

With hockey changing dynamically at the international level, Gautam ensured the changes are felt even at the grassroots. He acknowledges the efforts and know-how of Sandeep Sangwan, a Level 3 FIH Academy coach, for long in the coaching panel of the India team. “Be it cameras, lap-tops, CDs for videos of matches et al, Sandeep always factored in technology in his role at Hockey Haryana,” Gautam, who now serves as head coach and chief selector for the state association, explains.

Gautam believes that the winds of change began influencing the game in the country when Hockey India took over a decade ago. “With Narendra Batra (former HI secretary, now president of the FIH) at the helm, the game moved in the right direction,” Gautam affirms. “It has told in the performance of the Indian team,” he points out.

“You can tell that the players have learned the nuances of modern hockey – thanks to the technical inputs provided by professional staff, fitness training, money and competitive matches.

About inducing young players to shed the chronic weakness of holding on to the ball, Gautam says that he leaves it to the player to realize his fault.

One of the successful Haryana State team

“All he gets from is eye-contact. I refrain from shouting at an erring player. In time, he learns from his mistakes and rectifies them. Of course, I also make them realize it’s important to hold on to the ball at times – when there’s congestion or at the top of D to enable teammates to get into proper positions. “Or, when the player has the confidence to go it alone into the enemy citadel.”

Bharat Chikara, who wore the India colours with aplomb at the World Cup, recalls Gautam’s tutelage. “He is an intelligent coach with knowledge of match situations. I learned the basics well under him and it helped me upgrade my skills as I moved to higher levels in my career,” Chikara, a member of the 2010 World Cup squad, adds.

Bharat Chhikara (left) in the World Cup, getting past the Aussie’s legend Jamie Dwyer.              Photo: K Arumugam

“We were young, scared to talk, but he used to put us at ease and we overcame our fears. Moreover Gautamji was quick to understand the psychology of a player and it helped a lot.

Rajesh Chauhan, a noted striker in the India team in the 1990s, says Gautam is a jeweler when it comes to assessing a young player’s worth.

“He can immediately  tell how far a player can progress. That done, he can motivate a player. He knew my potential and capability as he did the others and it is no surprise that the school (CRZ) began winning titles at the local and National level after he arrived,” Chauhan says, his voice full of admiration.

World Cup player Rajesh Chauhan as deputy national team coach

“Gautamji is a coach who seeks to make a success of every player he guides – not just in hockey but in life as well,” says the 1998 World Cup player Rajesh Chauhan.

Does Gautam feel he’s been sufficiently rewarded for yeoman service towards the sport? His answer suggests he isn’t looking forward to formal rewards or awards.

“Yes, I had applied for the Dronacharya award but I prefer to think of nearly four decades of joy and satisfaction I have derived during my coaching career. I have helped produce 32 players who have found places in national teams. I have never been transferred except for a period of a few months when I did duty at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru”.

“I have been with my family all through this time, have had a devoted and supportive wife in Kusum and a son, Sidhant (a former hockey player, now serving Star Sports as a kabaddi expert) and daughter Sristi doing her PHD in IT in Oslo, Norway,” he says.

“What more can I ask for?”

And from the game’s point of view, we may well ask, “What more could grassroots hockey ask from a coach like Gautam?”

Star players who emerged from the stable of  Narender Kumar Gautam

Rajesh Chauhan, Bharat Chikara, Pardeep Mor, Virender Singh, Vikas Dahiya, Sumit, Manpreet Jr, Mandeep Antil, Sandeep Sangwan, Ajay Saroha and Ashok.