Coach Approach

Upar Dekho’ were the two heavily accented words bellowed by Spanish – born national hockey coach Jose Brasa in his first week of training with the Indian Hockey Team at the Balewadi sports complex. After taking regular Hindi lessons once a week, he is now, almost, able to conduct a full conversation with his players. Usaia Biumaiwai, Fiji-born national rugby coach, has adopted India as his home and speaks the national language fluently. Russian born national gymnastics coach, Vladimir Chertkov developed an instant rapport with the Indian gymnasts and has seen good results from them thus far.

Brasa’s stint as the national coach was riddled with difficulties, be it the shortage of water at the Polygrass stadium, the unavailability of facilities or a mini war with the federation, he has braved it all. He even witnessed one of his support staff quitting in disgust due to the neglect of the Sports Authority of India. However, it is the attitude of the players that has kept him going. “The players are always willing to work hard and have had no objections to the new techniques that I have brought into Indian hockey. They enjoy the change and always want to learn more new techniques,” he says.

Usaia Biumaiwai, on the other hand, received a lot of support from the federation but not from the Sports Authority of India. After having a lot of problems with the ground, he was forced to conduct the coaching sessions indoors. He too has stuck on ever since his inception in September 2007 and has ambitions to take Indian rugby to new heights. “The boys are determined and have a lot of desire to do well. This gives me motivation to do my job,” says the robust Fijian.

Chertkov took up the task of coaching the Indian Gymnastics team after doing a study of all athletes who are a part of the Commonwealth Games core probables. “After observing them carefully, I came to a conclusion that Indian Gymnasts have great potential. There is some great talent in the ranks and with a little guidance, they can do wonders at the big stage,” he says.

Chertkov is another foreign coach who has received full support from the SAI and the government but the lack of it from the Gymnastics Federation of India. According to him, the federation has been throwing a spanner in the works by sending the tournament fees late. “This disrupted our schedule that I had set for optimum performance of the gymnasts and caused many problems not only to us but also to the organisers,” he says. He feels that with a little help from the federation the talent that the gymnasts possess will take them to the top in no less than five years.

One common difference in the sporting cultures in India and abroad is the co-operation of the parent bodies of the sport. The experienced foreign coaches agree that the lack of this co-operation in India is what is holding them back from becoming dominant in that respective sport.