Quite often, a junior would find himself in a whole new world among the seniors and struggle to perform at the international level.
Of late, the Indian Hockey Federation and the team managements of various age groups have been making efforts in the right direction to ensure that the transition of a player from the junior to the senior ranks happens seamlessly. Having a uniform system of coaching for all age groups is one of the ideas put into practice.
Recently back after an eight-nation tournament in Germany, where the juniors (under-21) finished fourth after losing to Belgium in the semifinals, the team and chief coach AK Bansal are looking ahead and working hard. Their aim is to do well in the junior Asia Cup in Hyderabad in June-July this year in Hyderabad and try to qualify for the junior World Cup in 2009. India got silver in the junior World Cup in 1997 in Milton Keynes and won the junior Asia Cup in Karachi in 2004.
“We have never got such a long time for camps before. On earlier occasions, the camps used to be for about 20 days. Long camps are good for the boys and we are determined to build a good team for the two major events,” said Bansal, who is in charge of the camp at the Sector 42 stadium in Chandigarh. The camp is being held on the sidelines of the Premier Hockey League and the penalty corner camp for the senior players.
There is one thing, however, that is different with this lot of 32 players in the camp. “Talented players were picked after the junior Nationals in Chennai. They will all be below 21 years when the 2009 junior World Cup comes around. Till then, they can be groomed so that they are capable youngsters,” said Bansal.
“In the tournament in Germany, the Dutch for example had players who would be beyond 21 when the junior World Cup comes around. So they have to find other players. But we do not want to do that. We want the players to stay together for some time and learn. That will benefit them.”
The interesting part is that many of the campers are playing in the PHL and some like Diwakar Ram are in the senior camp too. That would give them some amount of exposure.
The camp is progressing well too, with the composition being rather well balanced. “We are working on attacking and drag-flicking in particular. They are being taught how to defend penalty corners also. That is being done because the European teams depend heavily on penalty corners and we can’t afford to concede goals through penalty corners,” Bansal said.
“This lot has been together since June. I would say it is a balanced team. There has been an overall improvement. Devesh Chauhan and Rajesh Chauhan are helping out with the goalkeeping, defence and other aspects of the game. Overall, I would say there are positive signs,” the coach added.
Uniform system
Also, the uniform system of coaching has found favour with coaches of all age groups. “It is easier if there is a uniform coaching pattern. Any player who comes to the under-21 team from the U-18 or U-16 teams would have trained the same way. Similarly, players moving on to the senior team from the U-21 team will again be familiar with the coaching techniques,” the coach felt.
The camp will conclude in the middle of the month and India will take part in the invitational tournament in Malaysia from January 17. There will also be two or three camps in Hyderabad and a four-nation tournament in Poland before the junior Asia Cup.
