Harpal Singh Bedi
Chief coach Graham Reid has exhorted the Indian hockey team to raise the bar saying “Bronze medal at the Olympics after 41 years is great, but there is a lot of potentials we need to unlock and display,”
The coach was candid in his assertion that this ” is not the time to get complacent with the result but it’s time to analyze and understand the way in which the team can elevate their performance to the next level.
“Third is where we are at the moment, Australia and Belgium have been consistently playing at the higher level. We need to be able to get to that level. Thats the simple goal I have for this team.”
However, Reid was full of praise for his players as he credited this team’s success to certain innate qualities that have helped them achieve this historic feat of winning a Bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
“This group is very focused and mentally very tough. They have imbibed a team-first mentality and have great bonding among them. At an event like the Olympics, there are so many distractions, and it is such a huge place that often when you hit the ground at the Olympic village and everyone spread out like ants, but we were able to keep the group together and that was very positive.”
Talking about the team’s showing, Reid who has been nominated for the FIH Men’s Coach of The Year award said “We will be analyzing all the games, not just ours but all games of different teams over the next six months. We will draw up a plan of what is required to get to that next level. This is a smart group, and we will work out the things we need to do.
“We will need to keep improvising and keep getting better. Deep down the team understands, Bronze medal at the Olympics after 41 years is great, but there is a lot of potentials we need to unlock and display,”
About his nomination for the FIH Men’s Coach of the Year award alongside Australia’s Colin Batch and Belgium’s Shane Mcleod, he said “Individual awards in team sports are usually reflective of the quality of the team and the support staff.”
With the team on a well-deserved break at the moment, the Coach disclosed that once the team returns to the National Coaching camp in Bengaluru, they will hit the ground running.
“We have some quality tournaments coming up, and there will be a lot of good competition and we will be playing the FIH Hockey Pro League. There will be enough time for us to prepare, we will get back to the swing of things after their well-deserved break,” he added.