CHANDIGARH: Indian hockey is sick. An attempt was made by a group of experts,
‘The occasion was the country’s first ever debate on rise and fall of Indian hockey.
Besides pin pointing the ailment, the experts also gave their opinion on how to cure Indian hockey to make it a healthy and vibrating game as it was 15 10 20 years ago.
The issues discussed threadbare at the debate were popularizing the game at grass root level, training and holding of competitions for sub juniors and juniors, provision of basic facilities including synthetic surfaces or their cheaper versions, systematic Coaching, rationalization of nation all level tournaments, training of national teams, duration of camps, emphasis on physical fitness, role of government, exposure to national teams and providing of incentives to national players. Besides, technical issues like change in rules, umpiring, change in the design of hockey stick and use of sophisticated equipment also came up for discussion,
Sports journalists, hockey Organizers, players and others connected with the game participated in the deliberations. An unusual participant in the debate was the former Indian cricket captain, Bishen Bedi, who maintained that he had more friends in hockey than in cricket and he always adored the stick and ball game.
Mr. Indenjt Singh Bindra, in his opening remarks, refuted the oft made statements that hockey does not get patronage of industrial houses, He said that hockey being the most popular game could get sufficient sponsorship, even more than cricket. The reason why this was not happening was mismanagement of the game. The sub Juniors, juniors and even senior championships were not held for years in districts and states. The hockey bodies were not functioning properly, He stressed the need for proper marketing of the game.
Mr. Ashwini Kumar in his keynote address said every time after a debacle of Indian team, postmortems are conducted, but the lessons drawn out of such exercises are never made use of.
He said the IHF should have prepared a plan for the next four years. Stressing the need for more synthetic surfaces in the country, he wanted that cheaper versions of exotic surface, sand filled surface, should be installed in every town of the country. Discipline was very essential. The players should be registered and the district and state championships should be made more competitive. The present system of trials for national team should be scrapped. Instead the units should recommend the names of their outstanding players. The performance of these players should be monitored in camps before the national team is finalized.
Mr. Ashwini Kumar said when he talked about inviting Mr. Horst Vein, the best coach in the world today, the IHF expressed its helplessness due to lack of funds. He said he arranged $20,000 US from the FIH President. The money was still lying in the “kitty”. The coach waited for a response for months together. Similarly, he said, teams from outside wanted 10 come and play in India. Australia was keen to play the Indian team but there was no response from the IHF.
Mr. Kumar held that India should avoid playing Pakistan in Test matches and should rather concentrate in playing against Germany, the Netherlands and Australia.
It was unfortunate that only 2% schools in the country had facilities for playing hockey, he added.
Mrs. Chanchal Sunjit Singh held players and officials responsible for the present plight of the game in the country. She stressed the need for providing basic infrastructure and equipment at grassroots level instead of building big stadia in the country, she wanted more competitions to be organized at the grassroots level. Rajbir Rai held that club hockey was not being encouraged for women. There were very few departmental teams. There was not much competition available. Further, at times the coaches attached with these teams were those who had no international exposure, both as a player or as a coach.
Mrs. Nirmal Milkha Singh admitted that decline in hockey was primarily because the game had no base. The killers instinct was missing. The players performed better in coaching camps than in actual competitions. She held that level of coaching was not up to the mark. A diploma or a certificate from an institute does not make one a coach, She wanted the level of coaching to be improved.
Mr. Harmik Singh felt that at national level, players did not need coaching. At that stage each player was his own coach. He felt that the stick used by, Indian players was to conducive to skillful hockey. Though it helped in stoppage, it did not support the other 19 skills of the game, He said that physical fitness should be in accordance with the needs of the game, Hockey players, he felt, do not need the fitness of athletes,
Article extracted from this publication >> December 14, 1990
