Indian hockey coach Graham Reid lauds players’ mental resilience and technical skills ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2020

Indian men’s hockey team coach Graham Reid said he is “comfortable and confident” with the way the Indian team has trained in the build-up to the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

The Indian team has been training in a bio-bubble at the Sports Authority of India campus in Bengaluru, with very little international match-exposure in the Olympic year due to the restrictions arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing a virtual press conference, days after the men’s team for the Tokyo Olympics were announced, Graham Reid said he was happy with the outcome of the two tours India had had in the year before taking part in the Olympics.

Graham Reid said:

“We have had two very good tours this year, which have come after a period of where we have been playing internal matches (among the squad in SAI), and where we have been having our daily training environment."

"One of the things is the importance of the strength of our daily training environment, how important it is and how close we need to always be to training and playing those internal games at the intensity level of, say, the Pro League or the World Cup."

"So after every session, after any of these games, we have a look and we try and make sure that the targets we're trying to hit from our point of view of intensity, are hit and if they're not, then we let the boys know. We have also managed to come out and play in the Pro-League after a period of training within ourselves and we beat Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands."

"And so, what that does is that it gives the team a confidence that we are on the right track and what we do in our daily environment can help us be as prepared as we can be and that's the reality."

Read: Dilip Tirkey: Debutants have to step up if the Indian Men's Hockey team wants a podium finish at Tokyo Olympics 2020

Graham Reid said the next few weeks will be completely spent focusing on what the Indian team needs to do at the Tokyo Olympics. He said:

“It (the Olympics) is now getting close and it's getting exciting, I must admit. After team selection, we've had a couple of team meetings, pointing out all the things that we need to do between now and when we get to Tokyo."

"The first thing we did was to get the team together, congratulate everybody and get some stories happening about what the Olympics means to them. We then pointed out the next three or four weeks of what we will be focusing on of what we're doing on the field and make sure that all our way of play is getting concrete so that everybody understands."

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India has been doing well in shootouts and Graham Reid said the team has been practicing them in training. He is pleased with the fact that his team is well equipped with players to score and save penalties. Graham Reid said:

“We are constantly working on shootouts. Our training sessions don’t go by where we don't finish with some shoot outs. Of course, one of the problems with training within your own team with shoot outs is that, the players get used to each other, like the goalkeepers get used to our shoot out people and vice-versa."

"What we're intending to do in the next three weeks is get our junior guys involved and that's from an attacking and defensive point of view so that we can get different perspectives. I think that's an important part of shoot outs. Shootouts are something that is part of the modern game and, if you look at the last World Cup, they were very prevalent."

"I think it's also been good to be able to practice them in Pro-League games. It is very nice that we do have people who are very good at taking them but also two good keepers that can save them."

Graham Reid lauds India's mental strength

Graham Reid lauded India’s mental resilience and said the modern game has a good mix of both mental health and skills. Graham Reid said:

“I think modern sport these days is very much in the mental sphere. That’s why I've tried to spend a fair bit of time with these guys and getting them to understand that a lot of their journeys so far through their life to get to where we are, has built them for this point."

"I don't think Indians really understand how mentally resilient they are, and how good that they can be. So, I think that part of it is really important. Having said that, it's also really important to be able to execute your skills under pressure. And that's why we train so often, so long and so hard, to try and be able to reproduce those skills."

Taking in the effort to get to know his players and to bring out the best in them, Graham Reid has prepared videos of each of his players' life stories. He said:

"We did a 10-minute video with each of them with just myself and the players, where they told their stories and that's very powerful. I intend to bring them out in the next three weeks to get all our guys to understand the sort of things that each player has been through during their life."

"What has been really good these last 15 months is having the ability to get to know the players. That's something perhaps that often you don't get to do as a coach. We've had a lot of time together. We spent a lot of time building the mentality of this group. The team got to know them very well and I got to know all their stories backwards."

The Indian coach, like the fans and players, is keen to finish the Tokyo Olympics campaign with a medal. Graham Reid said:

“What we've been talking to the players a lot about is that among the 12 teams that are going to the Olympics, we've played and beaten all 12 except for Canada, in the last two years."

"We haven’t got a chance to play against Canada. I think that's a really important point to note. If we play well, if we do our thing and we are definitely aiming to jump onto that podium."

The Indian Hockey Team is sending a 16-man squad with a perfect blend of youth and experience. There are 10 players who will be heading to their first ever Olympics, while the other 6 will act as group leaders in the squad.