Indian Men's Hockey Team Ropes In Eye Specialist. This Is The Reason
Hockey India has roped in renowned South African eye specialist Dr. Sherylle Calder to work with the men's hockey team until next year's Asian Games
In a bid to improve players' hand-eye coordination, Hockey India has roped in renowned South African eye specialist Dr. Sherylle Calder to work with the men's hockey team until next year's Asian Games, chief coach Craig Fulton told PTI on Friday. Calder, who specialises in hand-eye, foot, and body coordination, is the go-to expert for some of the top athletes in the world. Her EyeGym programmes have helped improve the performance of elite athletes such as golfer Ernie Els and Mercedes F1 driver Valtteri Bottas.
Born in Cape Town and raised in Bloemfontein, she has also worked with the South African rugby and cricket teams.
"We will have a strikers' camp, a goalkeepers' camp, and hand-eye specialist Dr. Calder will be working with us in December in Cape Town," Fulton told PTI in an exclusive interview.
"She is a specialised person in improving hand-eye coordination. Before any decisions are made, you need to be able to see the ball, see what's in front of you, and have the ability to train that and react faster.
"Hand-eye coordination is everything to do with goalkeepers and hockey players. Like being a cricketer watching the ball out of the hand, you have a split second to make a decision, so we are working on that in the build-up to the World Cup and the Asian Games.
"She will work remotely mostly, sometimes online and sometimes on the field. Starting December, she is going to work with us until the World Cup and Asian Games. It's an online skill session which the players have to complete, and when needed she will join the team," he added.
Fulton, also a South African under whom India won a second consecutive bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, has now set his sights on a podium finish in next year's World Cup to be jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.
"The ideal goal is to win the World Cup. Every tournament we go to, we want to win. Realistically, we need to see where we are ranked in the world. Right now we are seventh, so we also have to make some improvements in the next six months to be competitive on the world stage," he said.
"But at the same time, we want to win every tournament we play in. Yes, we would love to win the World Cup and are preparing for it, but realistically, where we are now, we have some work to do and we know that.
"If we want to win the World Cup, we need to beat six teams above us and all those that follow us. I am being pretty pragmatic about it. I am confident that we can put in a very good preparation block and be ready for the World Cup.
"With the right preparations and lessons learnt, we can beat any team on our day."
Talking about his long-term goals, Fulton said: "The long-term goal is to qualify for LA (2028 Los Angeles Olympics) and podium at the World Cup, and the short-term goal is to prepare the team as best as we can for Azlan Shah."
Having stamped their authority in Asia with the Asia Cup title in August this year in Rajgir, Bihar, Fulton now wants his side to replicate the success on the world stage, particularly in Europe. "We have shown that we are very strong in and around Asian competitions. We have won the last four Asia tournaments. We have got a good recipe and consistency in Asia.
"Then we jump across to Europe, we play the European teams and it's a little bit tougher. Five to six teams in Europe are in the top seven, and that's where we have to challenge ourselves. So going into a World Cup and Asian Games year, we are going to play all sorts of opposition around the world.
"What we have to do is work on defence in and around the D, and obviously the final third - our attacking play. We need to convert our chances more. We are one of the best pressing teams in the world."
India have fielded a relatively inexperienced side for the upcoming Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia, resting quite a few senior players like regular skipper Harmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh, and Mandeep Singh, among others.
The coach said the tournament will give youngsters much-needed exposure and game time.
"What it does is that it gives the younger players an opportunity to play a full tournament. We are looking at it as a development tour, not as a competition-results tour.
"That makes sense. We are allowing a lot more development, looking at a group that might come in in 18 months' time. Possibly, if two or three of them shine, they can make the World Cup squad, and that will be a bonus.
"We are resting some of our senior players, but we have got a good core senior group here," Fulton said.
India