Hockey coaches worldwide follow similar strategy for men or women, says Harendra Singh
Harendra Singh, who was appointed India men’s hockey coach halfway through his stint with the women team, has stated that the strategies for the two aren't different. He also attributed India men’s loss in Commonwealth Games to their failure in applying basics when dealing with pressure situations.
Indian hockey has been walking on uncertain grounds following a string of poor results of late. They have changed two coaches in the last 11 months with none of them taking the team forward. After Roelant Oltmans was sacked last July, Sjoerd Marijne was given just seven months to prove his mettle in charge of the men’s side.Â
After the men’s side ended up losing 2-1 to England in the bronze medal playoffs in the CWG, Hockey India decided has now turned to Harendra Singh. Harendra had led the juniors to the World Cup two years back and now with Marijne replacing him as the women’s coach, he has an uphill task of getting a good result with the men’s side in the upcoming Champions Trophy that is scheduled to start from June 23 in the Netherlands.
However, Harendra was quick to take up the challenge despite the abrupt manner in which he was appointed the coach while he was preparing the
“My firm belief is that coaches worldwide follow a similar strategy when it comes to leading a team, be it women or men. There is not much difference in how you prepare a team but yes handling them and working according to a player’s strength and weakness is where one needs to make adjustments,” said Harendra in an interview with Deccan Chronicle.
“I have been associated with these players, be it domestic, junior or international level and I think that is my biggest strength with this team. It is a dream assignment, and this being a crucial year we have begun work with great intent already.”Â
India started brightly in the Gold Coast by topping their group with 10 points that also had Pakistan, Wales, Malaysia, and England. However, their poor defensive display against New Zealand in the semi-final, where they lost 3-2, saw them reduced to challenging for the bronze medal at the end. In the playoffs, they couldn’t beat England and had to settle for nothing as they finished fourth.
Harendra has been of the opinion that the World No. 6’s poor defensive display has been down to their failure to apply basics when under pressure. He also revealed that his key area to focus was creating a similar situation in training.Â
“I saw them at the CWG my view is that they were punished because they faltered in applying the basics correctly under pressure. There were a good number of circle penetrations but the finesse inside the circle was missing. Similarly, there were defensive lapses with the players sometimes unable to take correct decisions.
“All this begins with having strong basic skills, which should come as naturally as sleeping and eating. Players only have fractions of a second to decide and it is where matches are won and lost these days. Creating match-likes situations during training is one of my key area of focus as we need to make training sessions more meaningful,” he said.