Brasa charts out roadmap for hockey’s revival

New Delhi ,March 18: “It is time to emulate the Pole Star,” said Indian hockey coach Jose Brasa as he charted out a roadmap for the national team in the upcoming season.

India finished eight at the recently-concluded Hockey World Cup at home, better than their perrormances over the last decade. Brasa pointed out that an overhaul in the “domestic structure and a positive atmosphere for the players” would help fetch better results. “Just like a Pole Star, we have to identify the focal point for Indian hockey. A strong foundation makes for a strong building and the time to take those steps has come,” Brasa said here on the day.

The chief coach held a series of meetings with Hockey India officials and unveiled a “Project India” that spells out the ‘long-term’ and ‘short-term’ goals. Brasa, however, added that his views were “just suggestions” and it was up to the Sports Authority of India and the Hockey India to implement them.
Among the many items listed, Brasa was clear that he wanted more power in running the national team. He also said that the role of the selection committee should be restricted to honing talent at the junior level.

“In Spain, we last heard of national selectors in the 1960 Olympic Games at Rome. The system is that old… exact 50 years old. Be it the NBA, soccer or any other sport, it is the coach’s responsibility to decide the final squad,” he said.

“Also, no one knows better than the coach who should be the captain,” Brasa added, referring to the Indian team’s captaincy row prior to the World Cup. Brasa had chosen Prabhjot Singh for the job, while the selectors backed Rajpal Singh leading to a falling out between the two parties. “We had a different proposal for the post. A captain is important as the players place their trust in him and I think the coach and the players have the right to chose him,” said Brasa.

Talking about his plans for the domestic game, the 57-year old said that setting up academies for different age groups and a centralised coaching system was the need of the hour. He also asked Hockey India to schedule the long-pending national championships in May and a hockey league from December 2010 to February 2011.

Brasa had one last word for the authorities. “If we keep the same Indian style, our improvement would be marginal. This is the time to take some steps… and a few very quick ones for hockey’s sake,” he said.

Age Correspondent