The Golden Boot

Triumph and Trauma of a Coach
M. K. Kaushik with K. Arumugam

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Seniors And Their Egos				I knew that inviting Ashish Ballal to the camp was risk number 1. What moths are to fire, Ballal was to controversy. He did not report for camps in early 1998 when he was not made captain. He had a standing problem with Dhanraj, and also coach Cedric. Ballal had more adversaries in the IHF than sympathisers. Even suggesting his name was considered detrimental to the team spirit by many.
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he problems between the senior players and coaches is a known problem in Indian hockey. Every great player one comes across in the sub-continent was a trouble maker for his coach at one time or the other. As a former player, I can vouch that such a problem exists among us.

Mohammad Shaheed did not get along well with M. P. Ganesh. Surjeet not only with Harmeek, but also with Balkrishan Singh. Manuel Fredericks had enormous problems with R. S. Gentle, Mukesh with Cedric D'Souza. There is no dearth of examples to underline this malaise. Even my predecessor, Vasudevan Bhaskaran, had a titanic clash of egos with the seniors. His post-World Cup report was very harsh on the seniors.

Anyone connected with Indian hockey would be aware that controlling the seniors and commanding their respect are the forerunners for the team's success. This would require lots of guts, endless patience and an unbiased approach on the part of the coaches.

On the first day of the Asiad camp, I found out that Ashish Ballal was not staying in the camp. He drove home for the night and reported for the camp next day straight from home.

After the morning session, I told Ashish not to go away like this without my prior permission as it would spoil the camp spirit. Ashish did not like me telling him this in front of every other team mate. He justified his absence since he had taken permission from captain Dhanraj Pillai. Still, I insisted that such a practice should be dispensed with.

Dhanraj was also of the view that I should not have warned Ballal in front of everybody, including juniors. "You should have taken up this matter with Ballal individually, sir," he told me.

I did not agree with Dhanraj. There were to be no artificial barriers between seniors and juniors in the camp. Juniors should not get the wrong impression that seniors were being treated preferentially. Seniors should also keep in mind that their behavioural pattern leaves a lasting impression on the juniors, for whom, they are role models. We all came here to shoulder the nation's cause. It is very important to maintain discipline in national camps.

I knew that inviting Ashish Ballal to the camp was risk number 1. What moths are to fire, Ballal was to controversy. He did not report for camps in early 1998 when he was not made captain. He had a standing problem with Dhanraj, and also coach Cedric. He had more adversaries in the IHF than sympathisers. Even suggesting his name was considered detrimental to the team spirit by many.

Despite all of these, I brought Ballal into the camp since I was impressed with his skills and his will power. In our practice matches during the Commonwealth Games, he guarded the Karnataka cage as would a frontline soldier during a war. Flexibility was his strength. Despite a heavy frame, he could bend upto 25 inches below bench in the flexibility tests.

I never imagined that an invitation to Ballal would result in a wholly unexpected problem with the other goalkeeper Subbaiah, who was now reluctant to participate in the camp. Probably he felt that his importance would be diluted with the arrival of Ballal. He suspected that he may not be selected.

Despite my efforts to allay Subbaiah's misgivings, he did not come to the camp. Same happened with coaching committee chairman Ganesh's attempt too. Dhanraj and Mukesh too talked to him on the phone, and even went to his house to convince him. Ultimately, Subbaiah did turn up after five or six days.

I worked on the mind of Ballal. I told him to remove the captaincy ambition, and animosity towards Dhanraj. There was only a bit of a communication gap. Once that was removed, they forged a good relationship in no time. I heaved a sigh of relief. It meant half the battle was won.

Take it from me, there were no qualms between Dhanraj and Ballal in my camps. Somehow, that dubious distinction should go to Baljeet Singh Dhillon, who was never on the best of terms with Dhanraj. Often I observed Baljeet spurning Dhanraj's valid instructions on the field. He would reply to Dhanraj 'You just play your game', as if the captain had no other role to play.

I assumed that the relationship between Dhanraj and Baljeet was not that strained for me to intervene. I was to pay a heavy price later in Bangkok for this leniency.

Kaushik with some Senior Players in Bangkok