Indian Express: Junior Hockey World Cup: Six-pack India packs a punch

From being ridiculed for their slouchiness, India are now praised for their renewed fitness.

Of all the adjectives you’d generally use to describe the Indian hockey team, ‘ridiculously quick’ and ‘extremely fit’ aren’t the ones that would come to your mind. Skillful? Yes. Stylish? Most definitely. But speedy?
This, after all, was a team that once, as per some accounts, guzzled a glass of lassi going into a match and gulped down a cup or two of ginger tea at half time. India were a respected opponent because of their skills. But their speed never worried their rivals, especially the Europeans or the Australians. It was easy for fitter rivals to wear down an unfit Indian team.

On Saturday, though, this is how England under-21 coach Jon Blebby assessed the modern Indian team: “India is fast, very attacking… You can’t play India their own game. So don’t be ridiculously fast. They have some really fit players who can last. And there were times when we were caught playing India their style of hockey which doesn’t suit us.”

Blebby’s German counterpart Valentin Altenburg, also the coach of their senior team, corroborated his views. “India is a very quick and athletic team. They are a fit team with outstanding individual players like Nilakanta (Sharma) and Mandeep (Singh). What impresses me is how they combine everything: they are quick, technically very strong but are also tactically very disciplined. So it’s becoming very difficult to beat them,” Altenburg says.

India’s breezy, free-flowing style combined with high levels of fitness and tactical awareness has changed the attitude of hockey’s heavyweights towards them. It’s a new, fit India. And it’s a result of five years of planned work. When David John first came to India as the physio in 2011, he had a one-point agenda: to raise the team’s fitness to a level so that it can last full 70 minutes. Such was the state of their fitness that when the FIH made matches a 60-minute affair, many joked it would suit the Indians just well, taking a potshot at the team’s inability to last the entire duration.

John quickly put systems in place and restructured the players’ diet plans while then coach Michael Nobbs sacrificed tactics to make fitness as their sole area of focus. “If you can’t last the entire match, then there’s no point of employing tactics,” Nobbs once said.

John replaced lassi with black coffee, the most significant change in the players’ drinking habits. Their food intake, water consumption, supplements and sleeping hours were closely monitored. Five years on, John returns to India as the country’s high performance director. He will be glad to see his ideas being implemented even with the junior side by the team’s Australian scientific advisor Cody Tribe. “One thing I noticed was the players, most of them from Punjab, consumed a lot of milk. So I cut down on it significantly. That was the biggest change in terms of habit,” Tribe says.

Food served to them is bland: dry, boiled and tandoori chicken is the stable for non-vegetarians while the six vegetarians in the team survive mainly on mushroom and salad. Raw fruits (uncut) are also included in their diet.
“Occasionally, they are allowed a small bite of sweets. But on days when there is no practice. When he introduced no sugar diktat the boys were hesitant. Through power point presentation we tried to educate them, it was a long process but they understood the importance,” coach Harendra Singh says. Tribe adds, jokingly: “If I had my way it would be no sweets, but sometimes the boys are a little bit sneaky.”

The impact of disciplined diet is visible on the field. In their 5-3 win over Saturday, each player covered an average distance of 8km. Against Malaysia in their opening match on Thursday, they ran for close to 9km each. The agility and alertness has reflected in improving the finer aspects of their game as well.

On majority of the occasions when India lost possession against Malaysia, they snatched it back within four to six seconds. India won possession in Malaysia’s half 17 times, thrice in the 25-yard circle, a consequence of the high-press style they have recently adopted, which at times puts so much pressure on the opposition that it forces turnover of possession. Against England, the turnover time was six to eight seconds. This has become the most significant aspect of the team as it helps them launch counterattacks at blinding pace, which even Blebby observed. However, because England are a much stronger opposition compared to Malaysia, India had to launch most of the counters from their half. England entered India’s half 38 times but on 11 occasions their attack was killed before they could enter the semicircle. “It shows that the team’s concentration level is high when defending. Concentration and fitness are inter-linked,” Tribe says.

Blebby says the best way to play this Indian side is by slowing down the game, passing the ball around and making them work hard to regain possession. “Don’t get caught dribbling the ball for far too long. Don’t play quick, these Indian players are so fit they’ll chase you down. You can’t beat India at their own game,” he said after the defeat. Quick and fit. The two new adjectives that define Indian hockey.