Former greats against hiring foreign hockey coach

LAHORE: Former Hockey greats deemed the Pakistan Hockey Federation’s (PHF) proposal of inducting a foreign coach in the Pakistan hockey structure as a disastrous move while the PHF stood stiff in their commitment to go ahead with the move.

“The decision of appointing a foreign coach, I deem, is not a wise one. Instead It will be a big blunder,” former Olympian Qamar Ibrahim told The Express Tribune. “In Pakistan, we have many options who understand our hockey structure all the way down to the country’s grass-root level.”

“But the foreign coach – either Dutch or German – first has to understand our structure which will take up a lot of time. The Dutch always go for a defensive game, rather than attacking,” said the former player. “And more importantly Dutch coaches ultimately try to adapt Pakistani players to their national team’s style of playing rather than adapting their own style to the system on ground. This will prove to be a complete waste of time.”

Federation defends move

“The system and the rules of world hockey have totally changed,” believes Qasim Zia, the PHF’s President. “Hockey today requires emphasis on the game plan, made by the coach from the bench, instead of by the players. Hockey these days relies on a coherent strategy and we all know that the European coaches are meticulous planners,” said Zia.

The PHF is currently on the hunt for a foreign coach with German coach Paul Lissek, along with Australian Barry Dancer, having already been ruled out. But Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel has become a strong contender for a coaching stint with the Green-Shirts.

One of the veteran players, Mohammad Saqlain, who has so far remained silent on the Dutch coach option, has said that the move will ‘backfire’.

“I worked with the foreign coaches and I have no question over their ability but our players are, somehow, not enlightened enough to understand their technical approach.”

A mental game

“Pakistani players usually have only three or four strategies to deal with our on-field opponents but the foreign coaches force players to think and incorporate around eighteen-points of strategy in their game plan. This is impossible for our players, as they are mentally not that strong,” said the former centre half. Saqlain implored the PHF to improve players at the grass-roots level instead, so they can adapt themselves to strategies applied by foreign coaches and hire them only when the team becomes a world class outfit, a far cry from their current level.

“Such high-profile coaches are only needed when teams are ranked among the top five and are working to improve their rank, not when the team is languishing at number 12.”

Published in the Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2010.