A Kookaburra Olympic hockey gold medallist, Michael McCann, has been helping India men tone up in front of goal, while Dutch legend Taeke Taekema is set to help the women.
Craig Fulton called former Australian forward and striker’s coach McCann for a camp in Bhubaneswar last month. India won five of eight matches in their recent Pro League home leg.
Over the past eight years, McCann has been closely working with the German U21 side and senior squad.
India striker Mandeep Singh said: “Michael was not only extremely informative on the field but his off-the-field meetings were also extremely knowledgeable where he showed us a lot of short clips on specific areas. I
“I particularly enjoyed the basics inside the D, shot on target two-feet from the goal. He also taught us new things specific to strikers’ lead and re-lead within the circle and how to deflect from the nine yards mark near the D with two-touch to the goal were some of the interesting aspects he made us work on.”
“Small things like, angle of the body while receiving the ball, fake-passing to beat the defenders in the D was fun to learn. If you see our performance in the Pro League, we scored a lot of field goals. This was a very good learning point for us, and we were able to implement what we learnt in the camp in the matches.”
Uttam Singh also emphasized his learnings from the camp, adding: “Michael touched upon how to finish, when we can’t get a full attempt on goal. Receiving the ball and what position we must be in while receiving in the second post and which side we must hold the stick and how important it is to look at the goalkeeper’s position when we take strike were all some of the finer details which I think will help me in the long run.”
India will hope to utilise his services ahead of some major events next year, including the World Cup and Asian Games.
Meanwhile, India women’s head coach Harendra Singh has enlisted the dragflicking services of Taekema ahead of LA 2028.
“Taeke is one of the greatest legends in dragflicking, and I requested Hockey India to bring him in to help us improve in this area,” Harendra said.
“He has been working with the team on refining technique and ensuring a smoother dragflicking process. Dragflicking is a highly specialised skill, and Taeke will continue to work with us in future camps as well.”
Taekema scored 170 goals in 94 appearances for the Netherlands men over more than a decade.
“Our focus is to develop Deepika and Manisha into world-class dragflickers. Taeke’s involvement will continue until the 2028 LA Olympics, and he will provide guidance to both the senior team and junior players as and when needed.”
