RANCHI: Sarpal Singh, veteran field hockey player and coach to many Olympians and international players from India, has been conferred the Dronacharya Award in the Lifetime category by the Indian Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) for his dedicated contribution to hockey. In a chat with TNIE he spoke about his early years, his message for the Olympic players and the continuation of his work as the Founding Director of Roundglass Sports.
Excerpts.
On receiving the Dronacharya Award
This serves as a great boost to me in so many ways. I was able to achieve something inspirational for everybody and family, friends, and all that because in my very humble way, I was able to produce almost 15 Olympic players for the country like Harbinder Singh. Being a part of the Indian Railways we won a lot of tournaments as well. After playing for 10-15 years, I started on the coaching side. That gave me a very proud moment that I was able to achieve something good because of the players I produced. They are all great human beings and well-disciplined in all respects.
On how his journey with Hockey began
All my background from a young age has been in sports. Then after the partition, my family came to Patiala and I could join the college, and we could build a good team, especially in football and hockey. And in 1950 I think that year we won the tournament in Delhi. We were a college team, beating the star-studded Punjab Police team, full of Olympic players like Balbir Singh senior. We used to sleep on the floor and even then we enjoyed being together and winning the tournament so much.
On Roundglass Sports
At Roundglass we are starting so many things on the academy level. We have started more than 26 grassroots academies. I have said that we should move around the country to find out the real talent. For each player we are coaching, we must go to his family, see how far they are, and if they have the education. These are very important features, I think. There are more than 2000 players around us. We started with men and women in hockey to start with Punjab. Then we have picked up more than 100 players throughout the country in soccer. Also a different group level. Our endeavour is that we should catch all the young players, and take care of their coaching both at the academy level and at the advanced level to produce athletes for the country.
On future of Hockey in India
Men's Hockey is clicking well because they have already qualified for the Olympics after winning the Asian Games. I think this team is balanced because of the astroturf physical fitness becomes vital. Belgium, for example, is a small country that is doing miracles in hockey. It is the interest of the game. Every player from the defense to the power, must know how to play on different sides. Even when the women's team, as they are playing qualifiers I could see, they were good. But, they can still go a long way if we can catch talented girls from different parts of the country. because we have to build a well-balanced team. And a complete team only comes if you have good physically fit players and everything else they need is taken care of. I think things will improve.
On message to athletes ahead of the Olympics
My simple message is that the team consists of a great friendly feeling and the coach should ensure that players have a proper diet, proper coaching, and proper discussion. In Hockey, all the players are supposed to play different sides, with variation, and understanding. A team with a well-lit feeling of understanding and a do-and-die spirit can make the most of its chances and they are bound to get good results.