The Tribune: Oltmans wants strategy coach, and GPS technology

By Sabi Hussain
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 8

Demands strategy coach, match analyst, GPS tech to remove flaws

With just about a year to go for the Rio Olympics, Roelant Oltmans, India’s hockey chief coach, has demanded an addition of key personnel to the support staff and the introduction of GPS technology to assess players’ fitness and stamina during match situations. The Dutchman recently approached Hockey India (HI) with three demands – the appointment of a full-time strategy coach, a match analyst, and a GPS system before the Hockey World League (HWL) Finals in Raipur in December.

Interestingly, Oltmans has already zeroed in on the candidate he wants as a strategy coach; the individual is from his own country, the Netherlands. “He will assist me in preparing a gameplan before the important tournaments. As a coach, I can’t always keep track of what’s happening around me. If I am going wrong somewhere, he would always come up with plan ‘B’ or ‘C’. His appointment is important, especially with just 11 months left for the Olympics. I’ve already shortlisted the name, I will soon approach the SAI and, hopefully, get him appointed,” Oltmans told The Tribune on Tuesday.

Talking about the match analyst, Oltmans said the candidate would be an Indian coach, and he would be required to provide much-needed information to video analyst, coaches and players through his statistical and performance-based intelligence.

On top of his wish list, however, is the GPS system. The inferences drawn through the system would help the players and the coaches in high-intensity tournaments like the HWL Finals and the Olympics. Oltmans has submitted his demand to the HI to provide all necessary GPS equipments as soon as possible. “All top hockey-playing nations have been using GPS technique to understand the physical abilities of their players. In today’s hockey where rolling substitution is prevalent, the GPS tracker will help me understand the physical abilities of our players better. More importantly, this will help us decide the duration for which we can keep a particular player on the field in the high-intensity matches,” he said.

Indian hockey’s main problem over the years has been that of conceding late goals. “That is because sometimes we fail to judge the fatigue factor of our players and concede goals towards the end of the game. The GPS training system can help us avoid that,” Oltmans added.

Oltmans said it would help him in achieving a “realistic aim” of finishing among the top-6 nations at the Rio Games. But for that to happen, a well-organised defence will hold the key. “I am working on building a solid defence and switching to different styles of play in different situations. We want to be unpredictable and dynamic.”

The Dutchman informed that Tushar Khandekar has replaced Jude Felix as the assistant coach of the national side. The Indian men’s team is in the Capital for a three-week training stint till September 27.