Building trust was key while moulding Indian hockey team, says Craig Fulton

Head coach Craig Fulton speaks to hockey players before an Olympic match.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Coach Craig Fulton said building trust was the key while moulding the Indian hockey team in his own philosophy over a short period of time and making it defend its bronze medal in the Paris Olympics.

According to Fulton, teamwork made it possible. “We needed to build trust, because that’s the number one thing that you can rely on,” said Fulton.

“We did a good job in the Asian Games (winning the gold medal and qualifying for the Olympics) to start that process. We had some tough times in Australia, in the Pro League. We knew we had it in us, and we came in here as underdogs. But we knew we could compete against all these teams and we had good results. You’ve gone two cycles back-to-back, medals. Only India and Germany have reached the top four.”

Fulton rated 10-man India’s quarterfinal win over Great Britain highly. “We were really ready for whatever was coming our way. And it showed. That was one of the proudest moments I’ve had on the hockey field. To try and get guys through 43 minutes (after Amit Rohidas’ red card suspension). And to get a result and to win it in a quarterfinal with so much at stake on the biggest platform in the world.”

“The German match, the semi-final, was a tough one. We played a good game, but we couldn’t score. At this level, if you can’t score, you can’t win.”

The South African was also proud of the fight against Spain. “In the last quarter, they threw everything at us. The nice thing is, we’ve been through everything in the seven matches before.”

While letting little about the team’s sessions with Paddy Upton and Mike Horn, who were part of the Gary Kirsten coached World Cup winning Indian cricket team, in the build-up to the Olympics, Fulton said, “We’re keeping it in-house from our own perspective, but there were a lot of things that happened there that were reality checks for a lot of us in terms of the experiences that we had in the mountains and all the different things that we did (in Switzerland). And it just came out, it really came out at the most opportune times, and it was a special, special time for the team. And we relied heavily on it, and we want to take it forward.”