India’s men hockey team aiming for the Olympic qualification
The Indian men’s hockey team has recently been introduced with their chief coach from Australia, Michael Jack Nobbs, on the first day of their national camp in Bangalore on July 4.
The foreign coach gave a cold first impression by commenting that if the team will be heard crying then he will be the one torturing them. However, his words meant business and it reflected the fact that all he wants is results.
Nobbs expressed his joy for being appointed for the job by sharing the fact that his hockey expertise is deeply linked with India. In the years at school when he started learning the sport, he came across Indian coaches from whom he got very inspired.
He believes that Indian hockey has a unique style and efforts will be made to get the current team back to play in that style because it will not just suit them, but the players will also be comfortable with it.
He considers this as an opportunity as a pay-back to the Indian hockey that he learned in his past hockey career. He wants the team to earn back their glory by reaching top of the charts among the top three and becoming one of the biggest hockey powers worldwide.
Even though the ultimate aim of the coach is to make the team qualify for the 2012 London Olympic Games, but he confessed that it requires time to first determine the current standing of the team in terms of endurance level and skills.
According to the coach, it is a fact that at present the men's team has 50-50 chances to make it into the mega event. However, after their training it will become more obvious that what is the pace of the team towards development.
Nobbs will be testing the players’ stamina and will take care of the diet. This is because he believes that a successful team holds three key qualities, namely the physical stamina, diet and recognising the weak areas of the opponent team.
One of his bold steps towards the team’s development is the introduction of a leadership group system and putting an end to the solely responsible captain system.
This step will not only help in putting an end to the monopoly, but will also help players to become more expressive in terms of their problems that were otherwise not even conveyed to either the team's captain or the coach. The idea was proposed by the
coach to a few of the team's players that were fine with it.
Nobbs is the highest ever paid foreign coach for the team and it will be a great responsibility for him to prove him competency. His eligibility for the job excelled the rest of the two nominee persons during selection, inspiring the Sports Authority of
India (SAI) and Hockey India (HI) based committee.
Without wasting anything he has started off with the team towards a journey leading their way to the Olympics. He has signed a five-year contract which means he will also be training the team for the 2016 Olympics.
Nobbs knows the reasons why the past foreign coaches were a failure for India and has accepted to adopt the system the way it is and working at the background, taking care of his bonding with both the team and the federation officials.
This is a smart decision made by him as he knows that he is about to hit a long-winding road, trying to get the team to 2012 London Olympics and for that he will have to make a few sacrifices in terms of norms and options.
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