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Odisha making efforts to turn state into sports hub, but there is a long road ahead

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Odisha making efforts to turn state into sports hub, but there is a long road ahead

In Odisha, hockey is not just a sport but a way of life. The people of the state claim that hockey runs in their blood and it is evident from the fact that Odisha has produced over 60 Olympians just in this sport.

To churn out more talent from the state, the Odisha government has been consciously working since the last decade to develop Bhubaneswar as a sports hub and popularise. As a result of the efforts, the city hosted the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup and is now gearing up for another one in 2023.

To boost the talent, there are also various training programmes run by the government under which the athletes are accommodated at state-run hostels and are provided with sponsored education.

To boost the hockey coaching further in the state, Naval Tata Hockey Academy, a high-performing centre at the Kalinga Stadium, was also inaugurated in August last year. The aim of this high-performing centre was to nurture young talents and provide them with the best-in-class training to groom them into future champions.

Though the state has been making numerous efforts to bring out talent from every part of Odisha, there still exist some loopholes in the state’s process.

Sjoerd Woelders, the foreign coach from the Netherlands who was hired for a year to train the other hockey coaches at the NTHA, along with the girls, spoke to India Today about the training of the 25 girls at the academy, who were selected after a 6-month rigorous selection process. The coach also opened up on the difference between the thinking process of Indian athletes and foreign players.

Woelders informed that the talent hunt for the next season that would begin in June has already started and their team of coaches have been visiting various tournaments to spot the potential players.

“Our aim is to get as much talent from Odisha itself so we have made a big list of all the hockey pockets in Odisha and all those kids are also coming to local selection trials and only the best will come to the selection camp in Bhubaneswar,” Woelders said.

Once the girls make it to the academy, they are required to follow a fixed schedule. The weekly menu of the girls is set up by the nutritionist and their health is monitored by the physio. For the girls, who are vegetarian or vegan, are provided with supplements to ensure they are getting the required amount of nutrients. Their training chart is hung up in their hostels which all the girls are required to follow.

Woelders conceded that there was a lot of talent in the state and outside but their fitness level was not to the par. They are needed to train twice a day, but their body is not used to that amount of training, though they have come from the government sports hostels.

But that’s just not the case. Woelders conceded that what the girls really lacked at was the application of mind during the game, which according to him was also the biggest difference between the Indian and foreign athletes.

“Skill-wise, technically, they are good but we could make them better, but the thinking–that does not happen in India. They are just doing something. That is not training to me. We are trying to get that philosophy inside the girls’ head that it is not just running with the ball but it’s also thinking what I do with the ball and what I do without the ball,” he said.

Woelders quoted the example of young players from Holland, his home country and explained that the tactical level of players back home was better than the Indian athletes because they play competitive matches there.

“They play competitive matches every weekend for 35 weeks a year. And we don’t have that in India. In India, every tournament you go with a different team. Now we have 25 girls and from 12 to 17. In Holland, you have a team of 14-15 kids in the same age group and they play every week together with the same coach. So the tactical level is higher in Holland, not the fitness level. Here fitness is better but the thinking is better in Holland.”

Woelders also felt that the coaches in India were required to be skilled better if the quality of hockey players needed to improve.

“The level of state coaches needs to go up. I give coaching to the coaches here and they coach the girls playing for Khelo India which is the biggest youth tournament in India, but that coach is not ready, in my opinion.”

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