Having come in with loads of experience and a fair amount of understanding about Indian hockey Graham Reid is still coming to terms with the ‘culture’ here. That is a word he goes back to when trying to explain the Indian team and the challenges he faces as coach.
“I still need to come to terms with the Indian culture. We need to build a culture of being comfortable enough to perform when it matters but also understand that your performance affects others in the team. We will work that out in the next few months, what we stand for. The team first mentality is what you need,” he said in an interaction with The Hindu here on Saturday.
The cultural challenges are also one of the reasons he is trying to sort out the switching on-switching off issues in the side. “Back-to-back games are the hardest because the result of the previous game lingers on. Against Poland, one of the difficult things I had to get them over was the previous 10-0 result between the two.
“A lot of players were still in that mindset. Switching off happens when you either take it too easy or are distracted from what you need to be doing at that time,” he tried to explain.
Reid, though, isn’t sure about engaging a full-time psychologist just yet. “Sports psychology is more about getting the guys to understand they can count on each other. I need to work out who we can get and how we can work with them but we have to ensure they fit,” he said.
Asked about India suffering due to lack of top-level matches by not playing the Pro League, Reid went back to his Australian experience. “As coaches, our job is to create a training environment that is equal to the top level of competition. Before the 2014 World Cup we were training by ourselves in Perth and our training matches were 40 % above what we actually ended up playing,” he said.
Reid felt any of the teams from the ongoing Pro League and India can win the Olympics but cautioned there were no guarantees. “It could be a top-four target but it’s such a difficult thing. Only around 60 percent of world champions win an Olympic gold. I want it to be achievable but it is important to get people to believe that we can get there,” he signed off.
