Players concede lack of mental strength and need for psychologist

For a long, long time now, Indian hockey’s travails have been considered more a problem of the mind than anything to do with skills. And now, the players themselves are admitting they lost their way at the London Olympics much before they even stepped on the turf for the first game. And the need of the hour seems to be a sports psychologist, something former India coaches Jose Brasa and before that Harendra Singh have been crying out for. For more than a year, coach Michael Nobbs too has been seeking one, without success.

“We reached London on a losing note. We had lost our matches in Spain during the three-nation meet and practice games against Spain. Then, we lost the first two games. Even before the Holland match, we were under pressure; the Spain losses were still on the minds. The first two games killed whatever was left,” admits a senior player.

If that sounds bizarre, coming from a professional player with enough international experience, there’s more. “Holland and Germany were expected to be tough and New Zealand have been quite a side against us for some time now. But it was against Korea that it all actually fell apart. They had lost their previous match and came out like a team possessed. They were playing like crazy, it seemed all they wanted was to win, win, win. Our guys? They simply turned up for a job, play out 70 minutes. We had burnt out, physically and mentally,” adds another player.

Let it be remembered that we are not talking of any random tournament here, we are talking of the Olympics. If a few losses during training in a practice event before the Olympics are capable of burning out our ‘professional’ players, it is a really scary situation.

Which brings us to back to the sport psychologist. It is well-known that Indian athletes, across sports, generally struggle on the big stage, in big competitions. Whether in team sports or individual events, the same players whom we beat regularly and consistently round the year suddenly become too strong for us at tough world level competitions. A full-time psychologist with the team at London would have helped them regain the lost confidence and reminded them of their strengths. It’s a specialized job and even though the coach or manager are also responsible, it is difficult for them to counsel every one individually.

Every player is unique and must be treated and handled so. A sports psychologist is trained to understand the individual traits and work accordingly. With just two players in the ranks with prior Olympic experience, the Indian hockey team was full of youngsters, talented but having never experienced pressure. They needed guidance, support and a reaffirmation of their talent. At the Olympic stage, where the best crack up under pressure, these youngsters were tailor-made for a breakdown in the absence of scientific psychological support.

What’s worse is that almost everyone broke down. There were exceptions — Ignace Tirkey, Sardara Singh and the goalkeepers Bharat Chhetri and PR Sreejesh — who managed to do their best, but the rest couldn’t. Sandeep Singh, the only other Olympian in the team, was pathetic. Other seniors – Gurbaj, Tushar, Shivendra, Raghunath – all faltered. The juniors expectedly couldn’t handle it.

Even before leaving for the Europe tour in July, Nobbs had said that he had been trying to get a sports psychologist but he couldn’t find the right one. It’s a long held demand of both players and coaches that has been studiously ignored by the officials. Nobbs, even after his return, has repeatedly stated that a psychologist is the need of the hour, more so after the debacle at London. Off record, every team support staff insists the pressure killed the team. “Honestly, no one expected a medal. Realistically, anyone who knows Indian hockey and has seen this team believed they were a 5-8 place team. I insist they still are. But at London, we had the skills, strength and stamina for 5-8 finish; we did not have the mental attitude,” said a senior staff member who was with the team in London.

Consider this: Abhinav Bindra, gold medalist at Beijing and participating in his fourth Olympics, admitted at London that he couldn’t handle pressure – and he has been working with a mind trainer for more than 8 years. Vijender Singh, bronze medalist at Beijing and a third-time Olympian, admitted after losing in quarters that he couldn’t figure out what was happening. On the other hand, wrestler Sushil Kumar went up from bronze at Beijing to silver at London. The only difference: he had his wife and childhood coach with him at London, who never let him doubt himself. It was all in the mind.