Coach Kaushik zeroes in on video analysis for practice

Bangalore: The support staff promised to national coach MK Kaushik before he embarked upon his journey to Bangalore is gradually growing. Former international Sandeep Somesh and goalkeeper coach Khalid Modi have already joined him at the camp in SAI, South Centre. And, if the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation (IWHF) is swift enough, he will get the video analyst and the software too in quick time to dissect practice and match sessions.

Two demonstrations from video analyst and software engineer A Prasanna, who was with former men’s hockey coach Joaquim Carvalho until the Olympic qualifiers early this year, convinced Kaushik that the software was good enough to provide him with instant inputs.

“Prasanna introduced new aspects to his software and gave us a good demonstration a few days ago. I am impressed with the product and have informed the IWHF. It all depends on his contract with the government now. He is scheduled to be with us until the 2010 Commonwealth Games and I’ll be happy if he starts work as early as possible.”

Prasanna’s software did little to earn the admiration of both Kaushik and men’s coach in-charge Harendra Singh during the first demonstration, it is learnt. “We were getting enough material for analysis before and after the match. But we wanted him to give us inputs when the game was on. The second demonstration was much better,” said Kaushik.

Meanwhile, the inclusion of Somesh and Modi has helped Kaushik delegate work in a more systematic fashion. “Sandeep will concentrate on the defence but I would expect him to contribute a lot more. He has already begun watching the tapes that we have.

We value his inputs highly as he understands the concepts of modern hock ey well,” said Kaushik, who was Somesh’s coach at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, where India won the gold.

Somesh, who is returning to mainstream hockey after a hiatus, said he was keen to contribute equally to the women’s team. “My teams play in the KSHA league and so I am regularly in touch with the game. I have great respect for the national coach and hope to add value to the team with my inputs.”