New Indian Express: Oltmans aims for the stars

CHENNAI: Roelant Oltmans is at the concourse of one of the many buildings inside the sprawling Sports Authority of India campus in Bengaluru. He has come there to gather his thoughts, 24 hours before Hockey India announces the squad for the junior World Cup to be held in Lucknow from December 8 to 18.

Just as he is entering the reception area, he starts dancing. Or tries to. His dancing skills are far inferior to his coaching skills, but the four people who are there exchange smiles. There is Punjabi music being played somewhere and that is the reason behind Oltmans’ impromptu jive. Seconds later, Mandeep Singh and Harmanpreet Singh, two members who will figure prominently in Lucknow, race through the area in a cycle. That’s when Oltmans’ dancing stops. He shouts at them like a father trying to discipline his errant children.You can see why he uses the word ‘fun’ to describe this bunch. But they are a group with loads of potential, according to him. “This bunch is extremely talented,” he says to Express. “Save one, all the others are part of the Hockey India League. It shows the kind of potential the team has.”

It’s obvious the 62-year-old, part of the junior team’s coaching set-up till the completion of the World Cup, is a fan. He is almost Arsene Wenger-like in his description of how the boys are shaping up. “They’re keen to learn, hard working and fun. They also play hockey really well,” he smiles.

That could be a red herring, as he talks about the differences of coaching the junior and senior teams. “The thing is we try to bring up kids in the same style, combination and formation as the senior team. However, as they’re young and less experienced, they sometimes don’t know when to do what. So there is always room for improvement. And that is a very normal thing when you are working with a young group.”

A lot of ideas are bound to fly around before the start of a major tournament, and the former Pakistan coach explains what areas are given more attention. “You want to learn to control the key moments — what to do after circle penetrations, defending as a unit — and work towards that. It’s also time to start keying in details like who is good at penalty strokes.”

He says it’s a bit difficult to predict who will be the strongest contenders, and has a reason behind his theory. “You don’t really see too many junior teams in action. In the last two years, we’ve won the Sultan of Johor Cup once. We also won a four-nation tournament in Valencia recently. I expect the good teams will either come from Europe or Australia.”

Once the World Cup ends, the Dutch manager will be back with the senior team (he recently extended his contract till 2020) and his plans for the next four-year cycle (Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo) have started. “We’ve to identify the core group that’ll be with us through the 2018 World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” he says.

“I believe we’ve made a lot of progress. We won silver at the Sultan Azlan Shah and Champions Trophy. We won the Asian Champions Trophy. In terms of results, the Olympics was a disappointment, but I was pleased with the way we played. We’re on the right track and with youngsters coming in, it’ll bring in new energy.

“That energy, which has translated to wins in the last 12 months, means we’re in a very interesting period. We’ve beaten all strong sides in the world, but not on a regular basis. One day, you finish seventh and the next, you’re champions, and that’s what happened at the Olympics.”