Terry Walsh who was recently appointed head coach of the Indian men's hockey team feels, he needs to extract the best of the Indian style and add a few elements to it in order to help the team regain lost glory.
“I am aware what Indian hockey was in the early 80’s and what it is now. One person alone cannot change the whole system. It’s got to be a collective effort.
Terry Walsh (left) with Roelant Oltmans at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium. Pic/Suresh KK
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I am aware that along with Hockey India’s high performance director Roelant Oltmans, I need to bring in a few additions to the Indian style to make it the best. It’s a process and it takes time for things to change,” said Walsh, who, alongwith Oltmans, witnessed the semi-finals of the Bombay Gold Cup at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium on Saturday.
The Australian is aware of the expectations from him, but, he feels it would be wrong to expect quick results. “Always, the question is how long? Everybody wants tomorrow, but it’s not possible. It probably could be somewhere between five to seven years to be consistent at the very top of the world,” said the Olympian.
The 59-year-old said it was a walk down memory lane for him in Mumbai. He was a part of the Australian side that played in the 1982 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium. The litmus test for him as coach will come next year when India in all probability play the World Cup (May 31-June 15), Asian Games (September 19-October 4 in South Korea) and Commonwealth Games (in Glasgow from July 23-August 3) apart from other tournaments.
“We have a lot of big tournaments next year. We have the World Cup and Asian Games. We will progressively improve. Everyone wants to win a medal in the World Cup, along with another 11 teams, but there are only three to be won,” explained Walsh.u00a0
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