The appointment of Richard Ian Charlesworth, or Ric Charlesworth as he is better known, as the technical advisor of the Indian hockey setup could perhaps be the need of the hour for the sport in the country. The performance of the Indian hockey team has been better this year and Charlesworth’s appointment could very well see some valuable inputs for Indian hockey.

An absolute legend in the field of sport, the former Australian men’s hockey captain, Olympic gold medal winning Australian women’s hockey coach and medical doctor was at the men’s hockey camp at the Sports Authority of India campus in Bangalore. Deccan Herald caught up with Charlesworth for a chat relating to his assignment in India. Excerpts:

What would be your role in Indian hockey?

I can’t really say what my role will be at the present moment. I need to study the setup first. But it is important for hockey that India does well. That would be best for hockey. That is my motivation. Maybe an outsider’s look will help India. Maybe things can happen better. I will be working with the men’s, women’s and junior teams. Of course, no one person can do all that at once but there is scope to analyse, assess and recommend.

Do you think it is a challenge to be involved in improving Indian hockey?

First, you need to find out how things work. I believe in long-term planning. I am an optimist. I hope I can be persuasive. It will be a big and interesting challenge for me. I am grateful for the opportunity and I hope I have been given the tools. We all would like to see things happening faster. Sport needs to move faster. There needs to be realism, there needs to be change.

I can be a catalyst but Indians must change. No one is always right. Five heads are better than one. My perspective could be good for India. The critical parts here are the players. They win and lose games. The coach relies on that. But I did see some keen boys here.

It is not only the infrastructure. Pakistan does not have the best of cricket pitches but they keep coming up with good fast bowlers. For success, there are a lot of things involved. One has to prepare well physically, tactically, technically, mentally etc. There have to be good facilities and also international competition. There is also a commercial edge to it.

What was it like being the high-performance manager for New Zealand Cricket and will it be a challenge coming back to hockey?

My role was strategic. In two years, I have put in a new structure. People will carry on what I have started. New Zealand has less cricket players and not many top ones. But Australia for instance has about six top batsmen among the top 12 in the world.

There has to be an ambition to be the world’s best. We are starting to see a change in New Zealand. The culture shift has started. It’s actually a five or 10-year job. When it comes to India, it is not enough if they qualify for the Olympics. We have to see much further than that. If India does not want to change, there is nothing that can be done.

However, I see that things are a little different now and there is a willingness to change. As far as coming to hockey from cricket is concerned, most things in sport are generic. I have been involved in high-performance in various disciplines and also been a mental coach for the Australian Institute of Sport. I have seen that the same issues come up in different disciplines. But when it comes to hockey, I have far better technical knowledge as compared to other disciplines I have been involved with.

What is your assessment of things in Indian men’s hockey at the present moment?

The Asia Cup win and the two bronze medals this year are encouraging but there isn’t enough evidence. It will be a tough test for India. They need to be playing tougher teams but why is that not happening?

India won the Asia Cup in 2003 and they had beaten Australia, Germany and Spain that year. But see what happened in 2004.

It should not appear like they are false dawns. We have to be realistic about things. The Netherlands, Australia or Germany are more solid and resilient. They do it and have built up momentum.

What is your opinion on women’s hockey in India?

I imagine women’s hockey is a more difficult entity to deal with than men’s hockey. The players need an incentive to be there.

Do you follow the fortunes of the Indian cricket team? What do you think about the Twenty20 win?

I do follow it but it is paradoxical and ironic. India were reluctant to play Twenty20 games. They had to be dragged into it and they went and won the Twenty20 World Cup. The India-Pakistan final was a good one. I am glad for them and it’s good for cricket. But I would say that India should not get carried away by the T20 win.

They got lucky against England in the Test series. However, England is not a great one-day team but India lost to them. Then see what happened against Australia at home. Again, just like the hockey team, they have to be realistic.