I take responsibility for not having mental conditioning coach earlier: Graham Reid

Head coach Graham Reid has taken responsibility for not pushing for a mental conditioning coach for India ahead of the FIH Mens World Cup from which the home side made a premature exit.

After India thrashed Asian Games champion Japan 8-0 in an inconsequential classification match here on Thursday, Reid said that the home World Cup brought extra pressure to the team which “sometimes was difficult to process”. He said when he took charge in 2019, he thought he would be able to manage the mental side of the players.

“Having seen this World Cup and being in a home World Cup, does bring extra pressure. Sometimes thats difficult to process. So, that was my thought process,” Reid said at the post-match press conference.

“It (requirement of a mental conditioning coach) has come up (for discussion) before but I did not really think it was needed at that point. I thought, I had enough experience to be able to impart the sort of stuff we have been talking about.” After the defeat to New Zealand in the crossover match in Bhubaneswar last week, Reid said a mental conditioning coach was required to help the team deal with pressure.

“We had COVID-19 and it was difficult to get over all those happenings. Then, the Asian Games was coming up (was to happen in 2022) and then was not coming (postponed), it was always like when do we start that process (of having a mental conditioning coach) and then it did not happen. “I take responsibility for that (for not having a mental conditioning coach).” Reid also mentioned that teams like Australia and the Netherlands have a mental conditioning coach which they called culture coach. He said the mental conditioning coach will have to be an Indian.

The Australian team has had the services of a culture coach since 2017.

“We have access to sports psychologists within the SAI. But its a bit different when you are operating inside your team environment. They (culture coaches) operate inside your team. “It is a big thing to have trust in your team, within the coaching group. I also needed to feel we can trust that person and we needed it to be the right person. I think it needs to be an Indian.” Reid said he felt the team was making progress on the mental toughness side of things, like scoring goals last minute.

The 58-year-old former player and coach of Australian national team also supported the national federations bid to revive Hockey India League (HIL), which has been defunct since 2017.

“Is the club culture here in India? I am not sure. It is very difficult to describe club culture out of nothing, that is the problem. “We need something, we need a competition that is close to international competitions,” he said when asked if India needs to start long term club culture which is prevalent in Australia and parts of Europe to play high quality games on a more consistent basis.

“We had HIL before, that was really good. To have HIL will make it a little bit easier, though they have the monetary factor behind that. But yes, everyone would love to see it and maybe it needs to be designed from scratch. There is no one in world hockey who would not want to see it (HIL) happen.” Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey had told

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