Indian Hockey

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"Everyone goes on about our glorious past and it's one of the
reasons for our downfall, we haven't moved with the times." Secondly, he says,
"if they (older players) don't understand times have changed, then how will
common people understand."
He offers an example. He speaks of 30 astro-turf
grounds in Melbourne, yet two in Bangalore, three in Delhi, one in Mumbai, or
thereabouts. "Kids play hockey abroad on turf at five, I started playing
regularly on astro at 18.
Obviously their basics are better, while I had to
unlearn what I had learnt on grass. But former players don't understand that."
He tells of a domestic game, played at such slow motion, that "if I trained
for two days a week I'll manage domestic hockey." But international hockey, all
hard, furious running demands the most extraordinary daily labour to be
competitive. Which is why, he explains, "players pushed into the national team
find it had to bridge that gap."
The more he speaks, the more familiar seem
the stories. No coaches, he says, to teach kids modern drills. Fourteen support
staff for the Germans at the World Cup, four for the Indians. No continuity of
coaching whereas teams abroad are headed by the same man for years. Simple
things. Do-able things. Ignored things. Fixing hockey requires no magic, only
intent.