Drafting youngsters into the senior team for a fresh Olympic cycle of four years isn't new, but the sheer quantity of it this time is testimony to the upcoming talent as well as Oltmans's vision for the future.
Every new Olympic cycle of a hockey-playing nation involves chopping off the flab and adding fresh substance into its core squad of players. The senior men's Indian team is going through the same, albeit with more of the latter.
With both eyes firmly on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, head coach Roelant Oltmans has drafted as many as 11 juniors from India's Junior World Cup-winning team into the 33-member probables in the senior national camp that is underway in Bengaluru.
Drafting youngsters into the senior team for a fresh Olympic cycle of four years isn't new, but the sheer quantity of it this time is testimony to the upcoming talent as well as Oltmans's vision for the future.
"It's a normal process that you have to invest in youngsters, especially youngsters who have proven themselves already on a higher level at the junior stage," Oltmans told DNA from Bengaluru on Thursday.
"Now we have to test them and see if they are capable of bringing that quality in the senior level as well," he added.
That first test will come next month itself, when India play the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup before the World League Semifinal in June. But the Dutchman, who took over the reigns of the senior team just a year before the 2016 Rio Games, said the challenge of translating the juniors' success at the senior level doesn't lay with him, but with the players themselves.
"These players need to get the time, we need to give them the time and they need to understand that they need the time to develop themselves to fit into this cycle. That doesn't mean that in the first tournament itself, they will be selected and they will be the stars of the tournament.
"Yes, they were the stars of the Junior World Cup, but they now start from the bottom again. It's now up to them to develop themselves properly. They will obviously be guided well by our senior players. But I also expect them to push our senior players to a higher level," Oltmans said.
And that's the second bird the 62-year-old hopes to kill with the youngsters stone. The influx of youth into the team will also keep the established seniors honest, in terms of fitness, skills and hard work.
"I expect senior players to practice with 100 per cent commitment every single time. If it's 99, it's not good enough for me, and they know that. And that's one of the things I said to them. The moment they do 99 per cent, the youngsters will go over them. That's for sure. And that's the good part about this," Oltmans said.
Some seniors who have already been done away with for the next cycle are the likes of VR Raghunath, Dharamvir Singh, Devinder Walmiki, Danish Mujtaba and others. Oltmans said the route back into the team for these guys looks bleak.
"Everyone can always hope. But taking quite a number of youngsters, it's clear that it's going to be difficult for these guys. Some of them were already close to the end of their careers, but there are ones who aren't that old yet as well. So, those guys still have an opportunity. Playing very good at the domestic level could be a way, or playing very well in HIL. But it's always a combination of many factors, which will be decisive in the final decision," he said.
Halappa, Jugraj to be Oltmans's assistants
Besides fresh players, Roelant Oltmans also boasts of a fresh coaching staff at his disposal with the senior team. With most in the previous cycle's coaching set-up deciding to part ways, Oltmans has got with him Dutchman Hans Streeder as the analytical coach, Australian Scott Conway as the scientific advisor as well as former India stars Arjun Halappa and Jugraj Singh as his assistant coaches. "These guys bring in something new and extra.
Jugraj was a very good defender and dragflicker, so he will help our defenders and dragflickers in becoming better players. Arjun was a quality attacking midfielder. In that area, we have quite a number of young players in our group now, and I'm really pleased that he is there to take them to a higher level as well. So, I'm absolutely happy with the staff," Oltmans said.
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