Photograph courtesy Times of India
here is no hockey coach who can match the credentials of FIH Master Coach Ric Charlesworth - whether in India or abroad, whether in men's hockey or women's hockey, whether in the past or in the present.
Just look at his coaching record - Charlesworth's Australian women's hockey teams won to 2 Olympic gold medals (1996, 2000), 2 World Cup titles (1994, 1998), 4 Champions Trophy titles (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999) and 1 Commonwealth Games gold medal (1998).
As a player, Charlesworth played 227 games for Australia in a 16-year career (1972-1988), 132 of these games as the captain of the Australian team. Charlesworth won 1 World Cup (1986) and 3 Champions Trophy titles.
With due respect to Joaquim, Carvalho is no Charlesworth. To give but one example, Charlesworth and Carvalho both played in the 1986 World Cup in London. Charlesworth's Australian team (nicknamed Charlie's Angels) won the gold, Charlesworth was the leading goal scorer of the tournament, and was voted as the Player of the Tournament.
In the same World Cup, Carvalho's team came LAST - the only time India came last in a World Cup.
Charlesworth, 54, put his career record in perspective: "In the past 25 years, I either played for or coached 13 gold medal winning teams at the Olympics, World Cup, Champions Trophy and Commonwealth Games. In that same period, India have only one such gold medal at a world-level tournament (2002 Commonwealth Games women's hockey gold). I know what winning at the elite level is all about. So few in India have that contemporary experience of winning. I believe this is extremely relevant to rebuilding India's competitiveness."
Another point to be stressed is Charlesworth's admiration for Indian hockey. In more than one interview, he has expressed his yearning to train Indians, who, he always held, have a natural flair for the sport.
Charlesworth was available for coaching the Indian hockey team for the past 5 years, but the IHF had stubbornly refused all this while. Now after a fair bit of prodding by the FIH, the IHF is being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the modern age of coaching.
Charlesworth will be employed as Expert Coach/Technical Advisor for Indian Hockey, under funding from the Sports Authority of India, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Indian Olympic Association and the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
Per IHF sources, Charlesworth's salary is estimated at $150,000/year. The FIH will contribute $60,000, with the Indian Government contributing the remaining $90,000 (or $7,500/month). It is expected that Charlesworth will be operational by the beginning of December.
The appointment of Charlesworth is one of the outcomes of the 'Promotion of Indian Hockey' project of the FIH, in cooperation with the Indian Hockey Confederation, the Indian Olympic Association and Olympic Solidarity of the IOC.
His job responsibilities will include assessing and redesigning structures, methods and plans in place so that India can aim for success in the 2010 World Cup, the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2012 Olympic Games. He will be available for both the men's and women's hockey teams, including the junior teams.
In the short term, the Expert Coach/Technical Advisor will also be available to assist the present coaching staff in the 2008 Olympic Qualifying tournament, and if India qualifies, for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Said Charlesworth: "As an outsider, I am not involved in the politics and machinations within the country. Also, I will bring independent eyes and ideas. If, in a year, India does not see my contribution as worthwhile, then I will move on."
As such, expect a frank and brutal analysis of the Indian hockey system in the coming months by FIH Master Coach Ric Charlesworth.
` ` 
