Times of India: Rasquinha calls for developing proper coaches

KOLKATA: Former India hockey team skipper Viren Rasquinha felt its time the country produce good coaches. Speaking at a panel discussion in Kolkata, Rasquinha said he feels pity when he sees the coaches are giving the same instruction to the boys which they used to receive during their playing days.

“The game has grown in leaps and bounds since I left the sport. But I find little change in the coaching process. The boys are still learning the same way that we used to do decades ago which is ridiculous,” he stated.

The former midfielder felt “except badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, we don’t have any international standard coach who can find a job at any top sporting nation.” “We need to have proper trained coaches at grassroot level so that future prospects can be brought up in the right way,” he added.

Former national champion Enrico Piperno, who was also present on the occasion, said that he had found kids lacking motor skills these days. “As a coach I find kids in the age group of 7-11 lack proper motor skills. You generally teach skills after 11 years, but in India we are pre-occupied with teaching them how to pick up motor skills. Hence we are late in teaching skills to youngsters,” he stated.

Rasquinha, being associated with Olympic Gold Quest now, feels our coaches should need to upgrade themselves with time. However, he is also sorry to see that Indian coaches are not paid as high as their foreign counterparts. “I have nothing against foreign coaches. (Roelant) Oltmans is perhaps one among the top five hockey coaches in the world. But we need more like Harendra Singhs (in charge of junior hockey team). Only then can we have a rosy future for sports in India,” he concluded.