Reconstructing Indian hockey

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Ric Charlesworth lost this battle. He remembers putting together a list of 10 things he wanted the authorities to do. “Number one on the list was that everyone on the contract would get paid. We didn’t get to number two. It was impossible to get anyone to make a decision. No one knew where the money went.”

And you can forget about adulation. Sandeep Singh, despite many awards, can walk down most streets without being recognised, let alone mobbed. A coach with the team, who has known him for more than 10 years, remembers Sandeep visiting his college in Punjab after the team had won a major international tournament: “I was astonished to find Sandeep waiting for me in the corridor and people passing by without recognising him.”

That’s changing. One day, while we were spending time with the team, on the street outside the Sports Authority of India (SAI) stadium, a boy ran up to him, shook his hand and said, “Sandeepbhai, amazing performance  at the qualifier! Please continue with the performance at the Olympics!” Sandeep Singh rarely smiles; but that time, he thanked the lad and his grin spread from ear to ear.

And Nobbs hasn’t given up on the cash. From what we hear, he’s close to having his way on match fees for the players.

iBelieve

Australia has a reputation for marrying passion for sports with a scientific approach. David John, also Australian, and part of the Nobbs core team, says that the sports authorities in Australia employ over 80 people with doctorate degrees in nutrition; in India, he hasn’t met a single one yet.

Nobbs is an engineer by training and a big Steve Jobs fan. He looks for ways to use technology to get better results. He persuaded Hockey India to give every player an iPad; he’s now training the players to use the device to study their game and those of their competitors.

“But,” he says, “it’s not just about science. It’s also about the story. It’s in making every team member believe in the same story.”

The story he’s convinced everyone to believe in is that they have to break into the top six. “We are more confident of our game, skill and physical capabilities than ever before,” says Bharat Chetri, the team’s affable captain. Once you’re at that stage, the differences between teams are minor. As two-time Olympian MM Somaiya says, “It’s anybody’s game on a good day.”

It also helps that Nobbs, like Jobs, knows how to say no. “It’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.” When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, one of the first things he did was cut down the product line and focus the company’s attention on where he saw its future lie; Apple’s turnaround is as much about what Jobs chose not to do.

Nobbs decided that his A team wouldn’t play every tournament. His reasoning: There are only five or six big tournaments which give a real push to a team’s ranking. The national team should focus on winning those critical tournaments, leaving the rest to the junior team, so they get exposure.

Adapt, Evolve

In 1998, the International Hockey federation (IHF) changed some of the rules. It allowed players to be rotated, and play on the offside as well. The best teams in the game reacted by beginning to rotate players efficiently. They played all out, took breaks, then came back fresh to play hard again. India, on the other hand continued to let their best players be in the field for as long as it was possible.

Part of it was belief in natural talent and brute force; and part was unwillingness to trample on the egos of senior players.

In the Nobbs regime, everyone has to follow his schedule. “Every player gets to play for six minutes and then rests for three minutes before going back. This is also in a sense a leveller where the lines between senior and junior get blurred and everybody performs at their best.”

‘Total hockey’ is the new mantra. Every player is expected to play every position. Where once defenders would pass the ball up-field, then stroll around until the opponents made the next attack, they now charge up and play an offensive role in the attack as well. This demands not just skill, but strength, stamina and speed.


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