Australian coaches need to be flexible: Walsh

New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) India’s chief hockey coach Terry Walsh feels that Australians need to be more flexible and patient in their approach when they come to the sub-continent.

Walsh, an Australian Olympian and national team coach, doesn’t want to go the way of his compatriots Ric Charlesworth and Michael Nobbs.

While Charlesworth, who had joined in the role of a consultant, stepped down in 2008 after he was frustrated with the set-up, Nobbs was sacked by Hockey India (HI) in July after a string of poor performances.

Walsh, who was a part of the silver-winning Australian team in 1976 Montreal Games, said he had a chat with his former team mate Charlesworth before taking up the job of India coach. Walsh feels it has a lot to do with the personality and flexibility.

“My view is that it has a lot to do with personality and flexibility. It think if you come to the Indian environment without flexibility you will stagnate and die. It is simply not possible to survive if you are not flexible,” said Walsh during a media interaction here Friday.

Walsh said in the past Australian coaches wanted instant results but it is always difficult.

“Some of the names expected spontaneous change because they had lot of ideas. This way is very difficult. The trick is to convince people that this is the way to have the change. I don’t have to drive this. The players have to drive the idea. We have to be smart enough to convince the players that this is the way we want to go forward,” said Walsh.

Asked what advice he got from Charlesworth, Walsh said: “I have played with him for 14 years. I was working with him not that long ago in the Australian hockey and we have been chatting regularly. Well it is exactly that flexibility in mind and the ability to be patient that is the key.”

Walsh, who has played in three Olympics, said it is easy to find the issues but the task lies in finding solutions.

“I think every one can see issues but the difficulty is about finding solutions. To me it is all about finding differences. High performance is about finding solutions. How do we actually solve this problems. Difference is in the thought process,” he said.

Asked about his plan for the team, Walsh said the team has to progress sensibly.

“It is not about finishing sixth or seventh. We have to progress sensibly. I think the boys have the skill but they are careless. The only way we can improve is by being repetitive. The more we player, the better we get,” he said.