No need of a psychologist, says coach Harendra
MUMBAI: When it comes to heartbreak in the form of last minute goals, Indian hockey fans can never forget the nightmare at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Leading 1-0 against lowly-ranked Poland, India conceded the equaliser with less than a minute to go and lost out on a place in the last-four stage as South Korea qualified on a better goal difference.
At Gold Coast Commonwealth Games earlier this year, India allowed a late goal against archrivals Pakistan. The trend continued at the Asian Games where Malaysia scored in the final moments of the fourth quarter for a 2-2 draw in the semi-final, enforcing sudden death shootout which defending champion India eventually lost.
There have been numerous examples of the men’s team failing to hold their nerves in dying minutes. It has raised calls for employing the services of a sports psychologist who can help the team gain confidence to avoid such situations.
However, Harendra Singh, chief coach of the Indian men’s team, on Friday rejected the idea of bringing a psychologist on board for the upcoming World Cup in Bhubaneswar from November 28-December 16. He claimed he knows the boys better and therefore can help them cope with such situations.
“Why do you need psychologists? If gaining confidence is the aim, then you can even consult a commoner and take motivation from him. The word psychologist itself carries a negative vibe and the players feel that they are doing something wrong for which they need to consult a psychologist,” Harendra said on the sidelines of the team’s jersey launch here.
“If I’ll not motivate myself then no one in the world can motivate (me),” the coach said, dismissing the idea of taking help from a trained professional. Harendra, who was assistant coach to Vasudevan Baskaran at the Sydney Olympics, has seen the team falter several times with the finishing line in sight.
He said there was no point in taking help of a psychologist as will be an outsider “who has no clue about the team and sports, and how the players behave.”
Instead, he said the players must aim to continue what they are doing and execute their plans better. “The nightmare of Malaysia match is over. We came out of it in Jakarta itself when we defeated Pakistan to win the bronze medal. We know we made some mistakes in that match. We have to learn from and avoid them,” he said.
The World Cup at home will be tough assignment for India who are placed in Pool C along with Belgium, Canada and South Africa in the 16-team competition. India will be hosting the event for the third time (1982 – Mumbai and 2010 – New Delhi). India’s only World Cup triumph came in 1975 in Malaysia.