An interesting article, providing a lot of food for thought on Pakistan’s Hockey team.
For many years have I been coming to Pakistan. Every time receiving great hospitality, making new friends, reacquainting with old ones. Many years I have been involved in international matches with Pakistan as my opponent, first with the Dutch team, lately with the Spanish. Over the years I have been exchanging thoughts with the greats of Pakistan hockey.
There were difficult moments for us, when Pakistan beat us. There were glorious moments for us. But never in all these years have I lost respect for Pakistan hockey. Always looking in awe at the special approach that Pakistan has had of hockey. I remember Champions Trophies, Olympics and World Cups, where we played against Pakistan. And I know what respect and even admiration many of my players had and still have for the top players of your country.
Sitting in the bus to the training ground, or back from the stadium some of our great Dutch players like Floris Jan Bovelander, Taco van den Honert, Marc Delissen, Jeroen Delmee, Teun de Nooyer and Stephan Veen, to name a few, would discus skills, tricks and goals that they had seen by Pakistan players. It was a subject that could go on for hours. Till this day you can ask any top international player and he can account of some magic that he saw a Pakistan player perform.
It never changed, regardless if Pakistan won (as they did in the recently played series against my team in Spain) or lost. The respect for Pakistan hockey is part of our being an international player.
Every top coach knows, that Pakistan, on any given day, can beat all of us. The one who will deny this, is a fool. Losing is part of the game, however much you like to win. Just out of respect for your opponent you will have to except it. This is where we have a very different approach in the west. In the World Cup of 1998 in Utrecht we lost in the group 5-1 to Germany. Was there talk, of firing the coach or getting rid of some veterans, no of course not. We evaluated the loss and learned from it. Some say we could not have won the world cup without that loss. To be able to bounce back is an element that you’ll find in all great champions. The Dutch team later on was able to repeat that remarkable recovery in the Sydney Olympics. Pakistan did the same in Manchester. That in itself is a good sign.
Pakistan has retained a position within the top 6 of the world in a time when competition has become stronger every year. Some tournaments they have reached the final four or even the final. India has not been so fortunate, and has seen a much stronger decline. Let’s look at Australia, their last big title dates from 1986 (although some might argue that winning the Commonwealth is a major). Holland are finding it very difficult to maintain the same level after dominating the international scene for some years. Or take Spain, after silver in 1996 and 1998 they have slid down to somewhere around the 10th position in the world. Competition is fierce.
As said, Pakistan have remained within the top 6. And that with a tremendous handicap. Every time they loose a few matches, the staff is replaced. Understanding of coaching at the elite e level is not something you acquire overnight. By the time that coaches in Pakistan are coming to come at grips with all the performance factors they find themselves replaced.
With the coming of General Aziz and Musarratullaah Khan this is finally changing. In December 2000 I received an invitation to manage two coaching courses. PHF had set out to start educating coaches. A tremendous challenge in a country without any coaching structure and admits fierce criticism of former stalwarts. The aim was to get Pakistani coaches prepared for the international and national arena. And the PHF is pursuing.
The first and second course were given in Lahore (Jan 2001) and Karachi (may 2001). With the assistance of Col. ret. Zafari and total commitment of Musarrat Khan, we worked hard with a group of impeccable background. As “students” we were fortunate to have: Samiullah, Iftikhar, Shahnaz, Mansoor Junior, Tahir Zaman and Shahbaz, just to name a few. Out of this group Tahir Zaman developed as the strongest candidate. Tahir qualified as one of the first Pakistani to the FIH final seminar (Directed by Terry Walsh and Maurits Hendriks) later that year in Rotterdam during the Champions Trophy. He became a FIH coach grade one, in a class with Paul Lissek and Toon Siepman. Not many Pakistani can put that claim.
It is the first time since I have been involved with international hockey that I see such structured efforts being taken in Pakistan. I saw the management team at work in Spain from very close by. I was impressed. Tahir and Bajwa have a very good contact with their players, They told me this was the first time they were training with a plan and clear objectives. They respect their coach and are learning from him. These two young coaches know what they are doing. They are playing within the Asian system but are modernising the tactic (this was long due). They tried players in new positions. Something that every topcoach does when building a new team. This takes time.
People in Pakistan will have to accept that building a team is a strenuous process that takes time. “One big loss might teach you more then several small wins”. And only after building and preparing they will be able to win again. There is no short cut to success, believe me, I know.
Maurits Hendriks is an
FIH Master Coach and is presently the Head Coach of Spain. He coached World Cup champions Holland to back-to-back Olympic titles in Atlanta '96 and Sydney 2000