‘Sometimes it is demotivating to work here’

India’s Spanish-born hockey coach Jose Brasa has revealed that the ways of the mandarins of Indian hockey has been motivation-sapping. He has also said that it was only the support and unity shown by the players that has kept his hunger alive for coaching the team.

Having completed six months as the head coach of the Indian hockey team, a time during which the players went on a strike demanding salary, Brasa said that his journey has been rather incredible though difficult at times.

For one, Brasa would have liked to train the boys in New Delhi at the World Cup venue — Dhyan Chand National stadium — rather than at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune. It is this lack of planning and foresight that has left him demotivated at times.

“It has been an incredible journey for me so far. But sometimes it is difficult to work here. It’s difficult to communicate and to plan. We never know what we are going to do the next day. And sometimes you completely lose your motivation to be here,” Brasa told DNA.

However, the players single-minded will to do well has spurred him to keep his spirit high. “It’s necessary to put extra effort to regain and recover that lost motivation. It’s always the players who help me recover. They are a great bunch of guys and it is very motivating for me to work with them,” Brasa said.

The Spaniard doesn’t want to dwell too much on the what could have been different or what could have been better. “Well, we can talk about it after the World Cup. But one of the reasons is that Hockey India is provisional body. We have no parents. We don’t know where to go for help, and it is difficult to get answers. I hope everything will be sorted soon and we will find our parents soon and feel more protected,” he said rather philosophically.

‘The important thing is not what happens, but what you do after.’ That’s the message Jose Brasa has printed and pasted on the doors of all the players at the hostel of the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune. And perhaps, it’s this message that has helped the team gel.