“It is important to develop the ‘next thing’ mentality,” says Indian Men’s Hockey coach Graham Reid as he wants his men to raise their game

The FIH Hockey World Cup is around the corner and the Indian team is looking to make a strong statement as the tournament will be held in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar. With less than a month’s time left India coach Graham Reid has warned his players to not get caught up after conceding a goal. He wants them to raise their level once they have conceded a goal in a game.

The Australian tactician believes that a positive mindset will help the Indian team to go forward in the World Cup as they will need to hold their nerves in big clashes. India will open their campaign on January 13 against Spain in Rourkela. The hosts will get the tournament underway and will hope that they start the World Cup on a sweet note with a win.

“You (Indian players) sort of get caught up in the moment when you play an event of this magnitude (World Cup). Don’t let yourself get caught up in the moment. It could get quite daunting when you lose the ball, or concede a goal,” Reid stated on India’s problems of getting bogged down after conceding goals.

Reid feels that the Indian players need to develop a ‘next thing’ mentality as players cannot change what is already done. He wants them to pick up the play after facing disappointment in conceding a goal. He wants them to avoid thinking about a defensive mistake or a lapse in concentration that caused the goal and as a result sometimes they get bogged down and simply give up on the game at hand which can still be won.

“It is important to develop ‘the next thing’ mentality. You can’t change what happened so you just move on to the next task at hand, stay focused on what’s to be done,” he added.

He opened up about the way he trained with the Australian team ahead of the 1990 World Cup. he shared how the players used to keep out the outside noise coming from the spectators and only focused on their game silently. It did have an impact on their game and that value was carried on by the other Australian teams in future and hence they have become a powerful force in the world of hockey. Reid wants his Indian players to take a leaf out of his time with Australia national team and how they closed out the outside noise. The Indian players will face similar circumstances in Odisha with fans all around them. They just need to shut out everything and play their best hockey.

“In the lead up (to the 1990 World Cup), we played smaller games, and played silently — we were not allowed to talk. A recording of the crowd on loudspeakers would play in the background and we learnt not to rely on calling out but had to get used to turning around and looking,” he said in a release issued by Hockey India.

“We had to learn to blanket out the sound. And this time in Odisha, it will be just as important for us to be prepared for the crowd,” he concluded.