India must embrace modern training methods, says Belgium hockey coach Marc Lammers

Marc Lammers wants India to go the ‘Belgium way’

Marc Lammers, the head coach of the Belgium hockey team, citing the rise of the nation in the field of hockey, has urged India to embrace the modern training methods if they are to become a force again.

The 44-year-old Dutch coach lamented the lack of adequate knowledge of the Indian coaches at the school level. He said: “One of the main problems in India is the lack of knowledge. The coaches at the schools and the local training centres need to update their knowledge of modern training techniques.”

Giving more insights into how Belgium planned their way to what they are now, fifth in the FIH world rankings, he said: “Hockey is no longer just about skills and dribbling. Players need to to work on several other things as well like physical training, tactics, penalty corners and so on.”

“These are things you work on right from the school level. Our federaton had done a good job 10 years ago when they made several changes in the structure of hockey in the country and we are reaping the benefits now. India need to do something similar if they want to improve.”

On the kind of training methods employed by his team, he said: “The players of our junior national team train three days a week with the seniors and another three days with their respective clubs. So they train six times a week at a very high level. That is one of the secrets behind the rise of Belgium hockey.

“We have been continuing with this system for many years now, that is why we have several promising young players in our current squad.”

Despite being placed along with the likes of Australia and Holland in Pool B, he sounded hopeful of going the distance in the Hockey World League scheduled to begin on January 10 in India.

Speaking to Asianage at the back of Belgium’s training session in the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Sunday, he concluded by saying: “This tournament is like a mini World Cup. We have our best team with just four new players and hence the boys have to live up to the expectation that they have built over the years.”