Team-work, the Winning Mantra!

Usually, a review of a tournament serves as a reminder of individual excellence in competition but Harendra Singh, the coach, has repeatedly stressed that he has not created players, he has made a team. It showed at the aptly-named Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Lucknow. There was no Indian player among the TOP-10 GOALSCORERS of the event. Not one Indian player received any of the individual awards in the tournament. And yet, the combined brilliance of this side put it ahead of the pack.

- Uthra Ganesan

“Jeet gaye, jeet gaye, jeet gaye, hum World Cup jeet gaye!”

(We have won, we have won, we have won, we have won the World Cup)

It was not a chant but Indian junior hockey teamcaptain Harjeet Singh, draped in the national flag,running wild and saying this to every one of histeam-mates and coaches, trying perhaps to reassure himself of the realisation of the dream they had dreamt for the past three years.

Two years, eight months. That’s how long the team has been together, starting from scratch and coming together from all corners, some knowing each other from either their academy days or on the domestic circuit but mostly unknown entities thrown together by coach Harendra Singh. In this period, they have gone from easygoing youngsters to serious profes sionals, broken in and gone beyond the limits of fitness they never thought was possible, learnt to dream a single dream and developed into a unit that put the final scoreboard above individual records against their names.

WINNING THE JUNIOR WORLD CUP, Indian hockey’s first world-level title since the previous win in the competition in 2001, was not just a tournament won. For every one in the team, including Harendra, it was a mission completed. It began well, and that was half the problem taken care of. For a long time, Indian hockey teams used to peter out towards the business end of a major tournament, drained due to poor fitness. Then came a phase when Indian teams would start slow and pick up speed later, but by then it would be too late. This side ended all debates on fitness and starting troubles,beginning at the top and staying there, through six tough games for a period of 70 minutes each, and then some more.