Former India goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza watches intently as the young goalkeeper sprints from where the goalkeeper takes over to the area where the penalty kick specialist takes his shot.
On the other side of the artificial turf at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here in Chennai, the former India defender, penalty taker and key member of the team that won bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, is busy taking the ball. Video of a player unleashing a drag tap. After that, he gets busy talking to young players about the nuances of drag taps. For more than an hour, Olympians Rabinderpal Singh (Tokyo 2021) and Adrian (Athens 2004) are busy discussing with the young players, all under the age of 19, the technique and strategy of corner kicks and the art of taking penalty kicks. Straight goalkeeping.
Novel initiative
“It is a unique and innovative initiative by Hockey India. Such a training camp has never happened before,” gushed Adrian even as Rabindpal said: “We want the players to have the right attitude and we are keen to groom players who show bright potential.”
essence
Rabinderpal said the 0-5 whitewash in the recently concluded Test series against Australia was not a true reflection of how the Indian men’s team performed at the Paris Olympics.
Adrian said India should be careful about Australia’s counter-attacks as they have the ability to turn a defensive opportunity into a goal-scoring opportunity in 15 seconds.
It is a new idea by HI, said Rabinderpal and Adrian, who are in Chennai to attend a week-long training camp organized by Hockey India. They feel that the camp will help identify and hone promising young talent
The two Olympians believe India can win a medal in Paris provided they are consistent and play together as a unit.
Naturally, things were not bright for the Indian men’s team especially with the Paris Olympics approaching. In a disastrous outing in Australia, India lost all five Test matches in Perth. The team’s performance reflected Murphy’s Law, “Whatever goes wrong will go wrong.”
Rabinderpal and Adrian were not too worried about the team’s defeat in Australia. Instead, they felt it would force the team to rally and the players would come out with better performances in the upcoming FIH Pro League in Europe and the Paris Olympics.
Rabinderpal is of the firm opinion that the team should focus more on defending the penalty kill and scoring more field goals. The 33-year-old, who has won 223 international caps, explained the lessons learned from the failed Test series against Australia.
“Test matches are always taken as preparation before major tournaments. So, I think I’m sure they approached those matches with just that mentality. But, of course in those Test matches, they tried many things including trying different combinations. And they were new faces as well.” I think the head coach (Craig Fulton) has given new faces a chance as well, I think it’s a plus point that they played five games against Australia before the AFL and the Olympics and I think they just need to improve the defensive structure, especially the penalty defense because they conceded about seven Goals while defending the penalty kill; it’s an area they need to improve on and at the same time, they need to work on hitting some field goals as well.
Having played Test matches in Perth during his time with the Indian team, Adrian said that the Indians performed poorly in Perth. Especially when he was with the Indian national team twice, the team’s performance was very poor.
According to the former India keeper, who has played 165 international matches, the biggest challenge facing the Indian men’s team was Perth. “More than Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, I think Perth has been a destination where we’ve always had a tough time as an Indian team. There’s no particular reason. In my experience, Perth will always be a place where we’ve had a tough time. I think we’ve been there twice in my time as a player.” We lost the series 3-0 and 4-0 in the 2007-08 season and the next time was in 2010.”
Find new rushes
Adrian is clear that the team must improve their penalty kick defence, which is an area of concern. He insisted that India must find new spinners other than the usual ones like Manpreet Singh and Amit Rohidas.
“We had the best front runners like Manpreet Singh and other players who sacrificed their lives. For the attack, it was always Harmanpreet Singh and now we have Jugraj Singh and many others. And of course the defender Amit Rohidas; he is the wall, which is like a goalkeeper running there. But we can’t To always rely on just Amit and Manpreet we have to find others and that’s what this whole series was about. There were many other players who got the opportunity to represent India against Australia in a Test series.
Neither refusing to pick any player who did well nor wanting to pick any player for defeat in the Test series against Australia, Rabindpal said hockey has always been about team effort and camaraderie. He said that if these two aspects are present in the team, any conflict can be overcome. “I don’t believe in individual performances. Of course, that’s important. But at the same time, if the team coordination and the team environment are good, any conflict on the pitch can be managed.
Adrian said that the positive aspect of the period leading up to the Paris Olympics is that the team has enough time to prepare, unlike what happened in Tokyo. He said: “For me, the biggest challenge is for the players not to get frustrated. Because we have less than 90 days for Paris. We have to learn lessons from Perth. Unlike last time at the Tokyo Olympics, there were not many training matches that the team could play due to the virus.” Corona. But now the team is more exposed. I think the whole management has definitely learned a lot. They have identified the best team for Paris because it will be a very difficult team.
Moreover, Adrian said that India failed to control Australia in the latter’s counter-attacks. “Personally, I feel there are more challenging parts. Especially with defending the penalty. And when it comes to Australia, it’s the counter-attack that we have to be very careful about. That was one of the weaker areas. Australia can definitely convert a defensive chance. He will defend The Australian team and they will score in the next 15 seconds so the difficult part is how to break those barriers because Australia don’t like to be broken and they don’t like to make any more mistakes on them and that was a great lesson to learn in the last Test series.
Adrian said at the Paris Olympics, the chances of getting corner penalties are not easy and the Indian team must be able to exploit the few chances it gets. “When you want to go to the Olympics, of course you will only be prepared for two or three penalties per game, but you have to convert. And the conversion rates have to be at least 100 percent or 80 percent. Not 50 percent, which is “Which won’t help you much.”
Rabinderpal felt that India were performing well in the penalty shootout where Harmanpreet and Gograj were performing well and he believed that they should focus on it and fine-tune it.
Master it
Adrian said that the Indian team has mastered the 2-on-1 technique (return passes), where the two strikers do not keep or dribble the ball for a long time. Rather, they pass quickly to the other without giving the defender any chance. “The best thing I’ve noticed in Indian hockey lately is this combination. The one-on-one passes we’ve been making. It reminds you of Dhanraj Pillai and Mukesh Kumar. You can change the color of the grass, you can change the color of the ball, but there are certain things you can’t change.” 2-on-1 team “The opponent will always be defeated. But how you do it and where you do it is very important. And right now, India is doing it in the right places.”
Rabinderpal and Adrian said India getting a medal in Paris is not out of the question, but as cliche goes, you have to take it one game at a time. “It depends on how consistent the team is on a given day,” Adrian said. “Because consistency plays a big role in big events. You can have a great game against Australia. Maybe we’ll beat Australia. But what if you lose the other games? What if you lose to Ireland? That’s it.” The key for the Indians, especially mentally, is that the Indian team has the right team but in the end, what matters is how they work as a team because what you saw at the Tokyo Olympics is a total team effort.
The two Olympians strongly believe that teamwork will be the key for the Indian team. Adrian explained: “If you have 11 players on the field, even if eight players are giving 100 percent of them, those three (non-performers) will be hidden. But if you have 11 players on the field and eight of them are not performing well, even those three Those who perform well will get into this ring.”
