Mind your language: Hockey team polishes English skills

Communication is the name of the game for elite teams to boost performance. Be it bonding on the training ground or relaying tactics in the heat of competition, it is vital to be on the same page. Or speak the same language.

The Indian men’s hockey team is taking big strides on this front along with polishing their reverse and drag-flicks. With their coach and support staff foreigners, back to the drawing board for the national team is also English lessons, to top up on skill and tactics.

With most India hockey players coming from rural areas, all of them even following Hindi is not a given, leave alone English. Having even an essential grasp of English can work wonders, be it communicating with the coach or on the field.

Be it seeking a video referral, or approaching the umpires—most speak English—to point out a wrong decision without the officials assuming the player is merely being too aggressive. Or even give it back in the heat of the battle if any rival player tries to intimidate. No, sledging is not entirely alien to the hockey field.

The Indian squad is finding in-house methods to help the players improve their English. For a start, interacting with the coach and support staff, whose different accents itself can be a challenge.

“We’re very aware of the language barrier, especially with our rough Australian accent, sometimes it is a bit difficult to understand,” concedes India’s chief coach, Graham Reid.

FAMILY AFFAIR

To bridge the gap, Heide, wife of analytical coach Chris Ciriello, and Reid’s spouse Julia began giving English lessons to the players during the national camp in August.

“At the start, my wife took two weeks with the full team, but that was hard because of the different levels of English and (each of them) wanting to learn different things, grammar to speaking to presentation skills. After Graham’s wife arrived, it (lessons) has been split,” says Ciriello, who won the 2014 World Cup with Australia.

“Graham’s wife helped the beginners and Heide the more advanced. I also did a presentation on English… It is about pushing the guys at all levels. It is really important the guys keep developing, not only on the field but off it too.”

Julia and Heide, who is a teacher in Australia and also has an environmental sciences degree, are enjoying this honorary work. It also will help their husbands, who prefer talking directly with the players than using an interpreter.

“When I started, I made sure we are constantly translating. We are testing them to make sure they understand. Sometimes it’s like the old scooter that doesn’t want to start. You have to keep trying to start it and then it does,” says Reid, who took over as chief coach in April.

“There are some who pick up faster. That is also important to know so that you can teach people in different ways, sometimes by actually showing on a video, or on the board.”

The team management makes sure there is always someone to translate during training, even if players are in sub-groups. “Our video analyst (Aadithya Chakravarty) is a very good English speaker. We have SAI coaches too, but senior players are very good in English, like (PR) Sreejesh, skipper Manpreet (Singh), Bobby (Rupinder Pal Singh),” added the 55-year-old.

The six weeks of English lessons were imbibed before leaving for the Olympic test event in Tokyo, which India won recently.

Manpreet Singh provides perspective. “There are many players who don’t know English and have a communication problem, be it talking to the media, or when you have to refer to the third umpire. This also changes lifestyles, you gain more knowledge, can talk to foreign players, and also know how or what to talk. Many players are learning.”

Vice-captain and defender Birendra Lakra wishes there had been such classes in his early years. “During tournaments, discussing the game with foreign players is a problem. If we can improve our English, we can do that. Also, during matches, if umpires award a foul when you know there is none, if you can’t speak (English) then you cannot explain and the decision will incorrectly go against you,” says Lakra, who was part of the 2014 Asian Games champion side.

Forward Akashdeep Singh adds: “The English of a lot of players, including mine, is not that good. On top of that their (coaches’) accent is very fast, which I can’t understand; the Indian staff translates for us. Thus I’ve learnt a lot from these classes.”

The learning hasn’t been entirely one way.

The team’s South African scientific advisor, Robin Arkell, who has been in India for about two-and-a-half years, now speaks Hindi in bits and pieces.

“(I have picked up) a few words. I am trying to get a little better, but yeah, I use a lot of small phrases to get the guys going. My favourites are probably chalo and jaldi aao, but I need to work on pronunciation.”

Ciriello, who came on board last year, sees himself as half-Indian as his mother was born in this country and he has grown up eating curry, rice and dal. The 33-year-old former Australia drag-flicker knows Hindi but is reluctant to speak.

“Speaking is not so much because a lot of guys want to speak to me in English, so I can improve their language. But I understand a lot (of Hindi)… I understand what they’re talking, especially when it is related to hockey. I follow about 85 percent. Just don’t tell the other reporters because I know what they are speaking,” laughs Ciriello.

First Published: Sep 03, 2019 09:45 IST