Coach Brasa pleads for a professional system

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The coach of the Indian hockey team Jose Brasa questioned the relevance of the selection system prevalent in the country, and called it archaic, as he made a presentation to highlight the requirements to take the game forward and to get better results in the international arena.

Keeping his promise of discussing with the media about the past and the future after the World Cup, the Spaniard said that he had made the same presentation to Hockey India two days earlier and would do the same to the Sports Authority of India (SAI), shortly.

“Only Pakistan has the selection system. Spain had a set of selectors in 1960. It was necessary 50 years ago”, said the coach, as he emphasised that the chief coach needed to have the powers to decide on the captain, select the team for a tournament, the support staff, and whatever was required for the team.

Conceding that the selectors did have a role to play in a vast country like India, Brasa said that their services could be utilised in spotting talent at various levels and ensure that such talent was not lost but groomed in a systematic fashion.

Quick to accept his limitations, the coach said that he was only making suggestions, and it was for the officials to decide.

The coach stressed that motivation was the key to the success of a team and said that every effort should be made by all agencies concerned to create a good atmosphere.

Brasa asked for a uniform system of coaching at every level, right from the under-10 age group, and said that there should be a pyramid structure, helping the players graduate smoothly from under-14 to under-18 to under-23 and eventually to the national team.

Different formats

He also underlined the need to have different formats like 3 vs 3, six-a-side, 9 vs 9, on different sizes of the pitch, as was introduced by the famous coach Horst Wein about 30 years ago. Brasa said that it helped in the development of the young players in a healthy way.

The coach was categorical that it was important to conduct State and National championships at various levels to help fresh talent gain focus. He also called for the integration of the various hockey academies, and pointed at the example of Rourkela having three such academies doing the same job.

Brasa was concerned about the bureaucratic hurdles, and said that the team should have a professional manager, and the various agencies like Hockey India or the SAI should have professional managers, who could be contacted for solving problems quickly.

He said that the team also needed 13 other support staff, like five assistant coaches, physical trainers, sports psychologists and medical doctor etc.

He said that the team would start its new cycle after recovering from the World Cup.The team will play the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and would later tour Canada, before going on the European circuit.

While fielding questions, Brasa said that the players went on strike before the World Cup as they had felt that, that was the best time to do so, though it meant that they had lost focus. He was clear that money was not the best of motivators, and said that crores of rupees would not ensure good performance, if there was no motivation driving the players to excel.