The Tribune: After beating the best, time to join them

Indervir Grewal

India beat top teams to become junior hockey world champs; but to regain lost glory, they need to learn from modern masters

The junior national team has created the biggest buzz in Indian hockey in over a decade. Though the men’s and women’s teams have also achieved major feats in the last couple of years, the junior World Cup win, or rather the youngsters’ performance, has filled hockey fans with hope for a better future.

Despite the unmatched pressure of being home favourites in India, the level of mental strength shown by these youngsters was mainly what set them apart from their senior counterparts.

This greater level of confidence comes from a better understanding of the modern game and a better skill level. The game has become faster and more complex, and a big need of the day is for players to be allrounders. Having players who can shift positions gives the team variation and flexibility; but it requires the ability to both attack and defend. A crucial part of it is the need for forwards to defend, because without a strong first line of defence, no team can succeed nowadays.

In Lucknow, India were fast, fluid and had a solid defence; and a proactive and smart first line of defence resulted in India being the most potent counterattacking side at the World Cup.

Rising India

In every aspect of the game, the senior team has also improved a lot since India seriously adopted the modern, more structured, system about five years ago. However, the foreign coaches found it hard to bring changes with the senior players, who were already set in their ways. So the national pool was widened by incorporating youngsters, such as Manpreet Singh, into the system.

But the attention towards the junior team was still minimal, which resulted in a rough transition to the senior squad. Former India coaches Michael Nobbs and Terry Walsh had continuously complained about Indian players’ tendency to make certain basic mistakes.

But after the debacle of the 2013 junior World Cup, Hockey India’s attitude changed. Roelant Oltmans, high performance director then, started overseeing the junior program as well. The junior team got a physical trainer last year. Getting into the system at a younger age has made the difference for these players.

Widening gap

However, it would be wrong to believe that this win is the beginning of India’s climb back to the top; because unlike top nations such as Germany, Australia and now Belgium, India’s progress is shallow and therefore their success is temporary and flimsy.

There is a disconnect between what is being taught to the national campers and the rest of India; and the gap between the national team level and the domestic level is widening.

India’s success is overdependent on foreigners but only 80-odd players are getting the benefit of these top coaches. The sub-junior level is the most crucial stage for development but children in academies across India are still being taught obsolete skills, like stopping the ball instead of receiving on the go, and old tactics, like playing in set positions. While the world has adapted to the game’s increasing pace, India is still stuck in the grass era — training is done at a much slower pace than what is required for top competitive level.

That’s why Indian players make so many mistakes, like missed passes and missed traps, when playing against top, faster, opponents.

At the junior team’s high-altitude camp in Shilaroo, Himachal Pradesh, last year, the huge disparity in the levels of the mainstays and the new entrants was discouraging.

Time for substantial changes

Germany is the most decorated team in modern times, having won four Olympics and six junior World Cup titles. “In Germany, we follow the same system from the grassroots to the club level up to the national teams. That has worked for us for long. May be India should follow it,” said Valentin Altenburg, coach of Germany’s junior team.
It’s time for India to pick a style and build a system accordingly. Above all, a program to develop coaches must be started, with a uniform syllabus and regular clinics by renowned foreign coaches. Hockey India can start with the most promising Indian coaches, who can later spread the knowledge to coaches working at the grassroots level.
Australia made substantial changes over 40 years ago, and the results have been visible in the last 15 years.
There is no shortcut for India to regain its lost glory. By winning the World Cup on home soil, the juniors have achieved a historic feat; but if this victory can inspire the first step towards extensive and long-term changes, it will be these boys’ biggest triumph.

Punjab leads the way

It is no secret that a big reason for India’s rise is the revival of Punjab. In the World Cup winning team, 10 players were from the state, specifically from Surjit Academy in Jalandhar.

“The seeds of this revival were sown 10 years ago, when the talent-scouting process and training system saw a complete overhaul,” said Sukhvir Singh Grewal, director training, Punjab Institute of Sports. “To make sure that the level of the smaller centres — which are the feeder units for the major academies — rose, we started giving them technical support. In the last 10 years, the pool of players has increased from 2000 to 5000; which has resulted in the number of players in the elite academies rising from 120 to 400,” he added.

“In the last 10 years, we have had regular clinics, mainly about the basics, for coaches. Surjit Academy has had a physical trainer for over six years. Now that Punjab has signed an MoU with Victoria University, the state will get the much-needed scientific backing,” he added.

Punjab recently signed an MoU with Australia’s Victoria University, which is a knowledge partner with the Australian Institute of Sports, the leading institute in the country. Under the MoU, the university will help formulate a long-term athlete development program, and it will regularly send coaches and sports scientists to organise clinics for the state’s coaches and trainers.