Focusing on fitness, it will be a big factor for games in Europe, Oceania: Indian women hockey coach

By Harendra Singh

Fitness has been of paramount importance to the women’s team especially with a busy calendar year – starting with the Commonwealth Games this month followed by the Asian Champions Trophy in May, the World Cup in July and the Asian Games in Jakarta. With so many major tournaments, it is important the girls remain free of injury.

I took over the reins a few weeks before the 2017 Asia Cup in Japan. The morale in the dressing room was low after a series of losses earlier that year. I was later told that some were sceptical about how things would pan out under my coaching as they had heard of my imposing nature of being a task-master.


But the one thing I consciously did was not impose any new strategies ahead of the crucial Asia Cup, winning which would be enough to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. For me the priority was to reinstate self-belief. I would call for regular meetings and almost plague them with presentations that showcased examples to instil confidence.

From motivational and team-bonding videos to stories of war heroes like Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi was put out there for the girls to realise that if they put their mind to it they can be world beaters.

I also drew experiences from my own life, particularly the mistakes I made. And while we worked on changing their outlook of the game with scientific methods like the neuro-tracking and classes on sports psychology, we also worked on improving their fitness.

We knew that if the girls can see for themselves how strong and dangerous they can be on the field, it would automatically enhance their confidence and change their body language.

Wayne Lombard, the team’s scientific advisor, had already set up a systematic regime that was showing results.

After the success at the Asia Cup, all we did for the next two national camps – about 45 days – was focus on strength and conditioning. The sessions were strenuous. The daily routine was physically demanding – weight training, a lot of running and conditioning and tactical training on the pitch.

For over six hours a day, the girls were busy slogging it out in the gym or on the pitch. I give a lot of credit to them for staying strong and motivated through this period. The results of the fitness camps have been evident with the team’s YO-YO test scores going up remarkably. The team’s average of 17.5 last year has gone up to 18.5-19 with the highest score of 21. It is a work in progress but we have the capability to achieve better standards.

I am also happy that the team does not look to one player to score. If you analyse our matches of late, we have three or four different goal scorers compared with earlier when everyone turned to Rani (Rampal). No doubt Rani is the No 1 striker but with others contributing to the scoreline, she has taken on bigger responsibilities and has turned into a playmaker.

For me, it’s not the goal scorer who calls for praise but the one who assists and the team is aware of this.

Beating higher-ranked Asian teams has been a big plus. But to do well against European and Oceanic teams, we need to be extremely agile, fit and fast. At the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, these factors will come into play.

We begin our campaign against Wales. Though I believe in the cliché that no match is easy to win, consistently playing high-level matches over the last few months should give us an edge over teams like Wales and Malaysia who are in our group.

But we need to come up with significant overall performances against England and South Africa to ensure a place in the semi-final. We have worked out our plans for each of the teams and all I expect the girls to do is to focus on their strength, their game and the results will follow.

(The writer is India Women’s Hockey Coach. Views expressed is his own)