According to experts, if there was one major aspect that was lacking in the Mumbai franchise of the Hockey India League (HIL) in the last two years, it was intent. The team looked out of sorts, one that didn't put enough efforts to make it a winning unit. Not surprisingly, it finished a forgettable fifth in the standings in both seasons.
But with a change of owner, name, coaching staff and core players, there promises to be a change in approach. The newly-formed Dabang Mumbai are making all the right noises heading into the third edition of the HIL that kickstarts on January 22.
Head coach Valentin Altenburg wasted little time in setting the agenda, arriving straight from the airport at the MHA Stadium in Mumbai on Monday, and having a brief chat with the 14 Indian players who have assembled for the camp.
"I want Dabang Mumbai to be an enthusiastic franchise," the 33-year-old German said. "I want the team to be successful, but I also want it to play emotional hockey."
Emotional hockey? But isn't sport about keeping one's emotions in check on the field?
"One aspect that I want to bring in personally is the factor of heart. If you have players with skills and experience but don't play with their heart, then they will be half as good as they could be. What (mentor) Viren Rasquinha and I share is ambition, and when we build a team, we always want it to finish first. Although it might not be realistic, but we don't really care. We want to win. It's innate in us," Altenburg said.
Playing with their heart was not something one saw from players of the previous franchise, and the current set-up is making all efforts to correct it.
"They didn't put enough effort both individually and as a team," Rasquinha said. "The team also didn't seem to bond very well. But we want to ensure we build a rapport as a team. We have had team e-mails, team WhatsApp groups, and everything possible to ensure that there is good bonding in all aspects ever since we formed the team in November."
The franchise picked a fresh set of players in the auctions, while retaining only a few from the previous franchise like Australians Glenn Turner and Timothy Deavin, Ireland's David Harte, besides a few Indians like VS Vinaya. The new coach's first challenge will be to get the new-look team going both on and off the field in just about a couple of weeks.
"I'm very positive, because we have players who are playing for years nationally. But this is a very important challenge that the team leadership, and the team, has to address. There will also be some cultural leadership work that has to be done.
"My assumption from talking to the international players is that there is something they really like about HIL. So I'm very focussed on getting everyone on that same boat and making the players themselves responsible for understanding that they have to integrate themselves," said Altenburg, who has been coaching since 25 and is in-charge of the German Under-21 team.
Altenburg hopes to use the tag o being and unknown to the team's advantage.
"It'll be interesting to see how franchises who've been playing together for two years under a very similar set-up of players make use of that advantage. It will be more predictable of how they would play than how we would play. We are the new team and no one will know what we'll do. Which is good!" he said, adding that he has some Hindi and Marathi learning to do with his first visit to Mumbai.
Altenburg on Indian hockey...
When I watch the boys right now, it's fascinating to see their smooth movements, technique and skills. When Viren and (VS) Vinaya came to Stuggtgard in those days, all players of the league were astonished to see their one-on-one skills. So that is India's strength, and German players will never reach that level.
But it's a bit more complex than that. You also have to have a certain athletic and tactical concept as a team. What has been a success factor for German hockey is that they can get better and better as a tournament goes on. So if you combine tactical discipline and systematic approach with smooth technical aspects of Indian, that team will dominate the world for the next decade.
Teams like Australia and Germany are very strong when it really matters. So the mental aspect of hockey also shouldn't be underestimated. When it comes to important games, your team has to be there. And teams that are able to manage that will be successful.
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