India hockey coach Shivendra Singh (toi) Rajgir: The Indian male hockey team has a hectic schedule in front of them next year, when the League hockey India takes place in January, then FIH for League and the World Cup and Asian Games take place in just three weeks.Given that the head coach of the men team Craig Fulton began to build a team from last year, helping him to choose units from the big players fund during the two main tournaments that take place back.In order to prepare them well, last year they took them on a European tour and this year they also went to Europe in July and played eight matches against Ireland, France, England, Belgium and the Netherlands, where Shivendra Singh was their head coach.Shivendra believes that this tour had a huge impact on players. It was a great experience for him, because it was the first time he was in charge of the party as a head coach.Asked what the experience was, Shivendra said: “The Indian team had to play against the best teams. So the players got an idea of what it was like to play against the best teams in the world. They also understood how changes were made, how fast and how they differ.”As for the focus, it was up to players’ education and confidence, but the biggest benefactors were two goalies – Pawan and Mohit HS.
Vote
Do you think the European tour was beneficial for the Indian men’s hockey team?
“They were to make freedom of their own decisions. In addition to some players like Sanjay, Varun, Vishnu and Karthi – with some experience with the older party – there were no seniors who would lead them, and had to take more responsibility,” the coach added.“They also had to lead players from behind, maintain the team’s structure and focus on the designation, calls and communication with players.It was also a great exhibition for Sanjay, which side captain. “You settle for playing with the elderly and playing according to their instructions. However, he had to lead the party and two young goalies and share his experience between them,” Shivendra said.Some of these players also got a chance to travel to Australia along with the Indian senior team and played a few games there. But it was strange to see that they would not make a group for the Asia Cup.In the opinion of Fulton, however, “it was not a wise step to expose younger players at the qualifying tournament.” But he wants to continue with the group all year round and give them so much time in the upcoming tournament.“We have a year to build the same group we took to Australia because they are our younger group that goes through, and then leave them in the system and give them games through the League, and then of course we have a few talented under the age of 21 who go through the Junior World Championship and then bring them to a larger team.Hopefully it will help him to get what he planned to achieve a year ago, and eventually help India to work well at the World Championship and Asian Games.
