The vast difference between the Indian hockey team and most others lies not just in the style of hockey. It lies in the style of planning and the attention given to off-the-field requirements.While the current Indian team is recognised by foreign coaches and experts to possess some very talented players, it’s equally felt that the team on the field is let down by the team off it: the think-tank and support staff. The team that will go to the Asia Cup in Malaysia this Sunday lacks a doctor; trainer Sampath Kumar has to carry out that duty, and he’s also the physiotherapist.There is no video analyser to supply the team with key footage of rival players, something even club sides in Europe take care of. In the Indian structure, that role is seen as a part-time job which has currently been given to A B Subbaiah, the goal-keeping coach (the one experiment, at the Champions Trophy, that has proved successful) who uses his personal handycam to videograph the matches.Contrast this with the preparation of teams playing in the just-concluded current European Nation Cup (the qualifer tournament for 2004 Olympics).Switzerland took an eight-member support team; other than two assistants to the chief coach and a manager, they had : a doctor, physical trainer, physiotherapist and video analsyer.Super coach Maurits Hendriks, who guided Holland to the Olympic gold in 2000 and is now coaching the Spanish team which reached the final of the Eueropean Nation Cup, has three assistant coaches. Belgium, which finished sixth in the tournament, has two physiotherapists for the team other than a doctor and trainer.Reigning world champion Germany travel with a psychologist for the team - Lothar Linz. Incidentally, one of their leading player in the defence, Michael Green is a doctor and a specialist in traumatology.It’s a level of preparation India can only dream about at present. While coaches are the IHF’s favourite whipping boys, Indian hockey could be better off if more attention was paid to this area of planning.
