Indian hockey chief coach Joaquim Carvalho has been stressing on the need to have the same coaching pattern for players in all age groups.
A significant step towards that objective was taken on Thursday when coaches and support staff of the senior and junior teams participated in a seminar at the Sports Authority of India Southern Centre.
Apart from Carvalho, MM Somaiyya (technical director), MP Singh (coach), Ramesh Parameswaran (assistant coach), AK Bansal (U-21 coach), R Mishra (U-18 chief coach), Samsud Zoha (U-18 coach), Gundeep Kumar (chief coach, U-16), Thlenga, Basantha (U-16 coaches), Devesh Chauhan (goalkeeping coach), ID Prabhakar (special invitee), Ganguly Prasad (physical trainer), Srikanth Iyengar (physio) and Narendra (video analyst) attended the day-long deliberations. Junior technical advisor Mervyn Fernandes could not make it due to personal reasons.
‘Good interaction’
“This is the first time such a meeting of coaches has happened, now it will be done on a regular basis. It was a good interaction,” said Carvalho. “The coaches were told what needs to be done at the junior level. The idea is to have uniformity in coaching at all levels.
“We discussed the equipment needs of the junior teams. They need good sticks, shoes and goalkeeping equipment. We also need video cameras for each team. All that is very expensive but required. We have asked for all that,” Carvalho added.
“At the junior level, the emphasis should be on the basics. It should be more tactical and skill-oriented training. Players should have a vision for the future. They should be told what is expected of them when they come to the senior level.
“We also talked about what players in different positions should do, how to execute a penalty corner etc. How to analyse after a match is over and how knowledge should be shared after a foreign tour was discussed. The software drag-flick, which we use for analysis, was discussed and videos were played.”
Carvalho has believed in having ample back-up. “There should be ample back-up for the next senior age group so that we do not struggle. We have made a database of players,” he said.
“We would like to have specialist coaches like Jugraj Singh to teach drag-flicking. We should have videos of great drag-flickers. Devesh is here as the goalkeeping coach.
“We have asked for high-quality sticks, shoes and other equipment. Some sticks have come but we are expecting more.”
