CHENNAI: Paddy Upton, who worked with the Indian men's hockey team could return as a mental health conditioning coach in January, with the 2024 Paris Olympics in sight. The South African coach joined the team ahead of the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) till the conclusion of his contract after the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
"We will meet with Paddy in January in Cape Town with our training camp there. Hopefully, we can keep the consistency as we look forward to the Pro League as our first block in the next few months," Craig Fulton told this daily during the ongoing 13th senior men's national championship in Chennai. Upton, who was part of the coaching staff of the Indian men's cricket team that lifted the trophy in 2011, also played a crucial role alongside Fulton to help India win ACT and book a Paris 2024 quota with a gold medal in the Asian Games.
"With Paddy, it helps some players become a little bit more mentally aware. They can ask more questions, and it gives them mental skills to help deal with certain expectations. Playing hockey in India is totally different from playing hockey outside. Two different worlds really and you need two different levels of skill to manage it. We always wanted to build that trust first by bringing in the good support staff for players to realise what environment we are trying to create," Fulton added.
Harmanpreet Singh, India's captain who is currently representing Punjab at the national event, also praised Upton for his help during the big events. He also cited the example of the ACT final, where India completed a remarkable comeback in the second half. Singh provided insights into how that change in mentality has helped the Indian team.
"As a team, we have had a great experience with him (Upton). If we are talking about the change in mindset we have a great example in the ACT final. We spoke about the positive mindset and it helped us in that match. I think we proved that with a positive mindset, we can focus on the target no matter what the challenges are. And it has helped a lot for the group," Singh mentioned.
