Hockey is a fascinating and a thrilling sport. India has a rich history in hockey. We all know about the heroics and glory it has brought to our nation. But gone are those glory days. The game is fighting for its existent currently in India. Some mindless decision by Hockey India especially frequent change of coaches is making the matter worse.
The Indian Hockey Federation has the tradition of firing coaches without any reason from both Men’s and Women’s team. The tradition started with the sacking of the Australian legend Ric Charlesworth and the list include lots of famous names around the world.
Last year the Hockey India sacked Roelant Oltmans as the head coach of Indian men’s hockey team. Under whom Indian men’s team performed reasonably well. But in their defense, Hockey India stated that the decision to sack Oltmans was taken after a review of India’s performance in 2016-17. Oltmans was a master tactician and has got a great sense of the game. Clearly, the decision to fire the Dutchman did not go down well with players at that time.
After Roelant Oltmans, Hockey India appointed another Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne to coach the Men’s Hockey team. Previously Sjored was in charge of the women’s team. To be fair his track record wasn’t that great with the women’s team either. So, to appoint him in place of Oltmans as a head coach of men’s team defies logic. In the meantime, Harendra Singh was given the charge of the women’s team.
Now, not even a few days back Indian hockey saw another change in the coaching staff with Harendra Singh being appointed as the head coach of Men’s team . Harendra Singh replaced Dutchman Sjored, who now returns to his job as the chief coach of women’s team.
So, the bottom line is that if you don’t allow somebody to settle in you cannot get a positive result. Every person has his own method and style of coaching. It takes time to gel with the players. No coach in the world has the magic wand to deliver straight away. People who are running the game in our country has to understand that. Too many chopping and changing in coaching department is not good for Indian Hockey.
Next few months going to be very crucial for Indian Hockey with Asian Games just around the corner and men’s hockey world cup scheduled to be played from 28th November to 16th December 2018 at Kalinga Stadium, in Bhubaneswar.
