Chief National hockey coach Terry Walsh, who is training debutants Kalinga Lancers in the ongoing Hockey India League (HIL), today said the opportunity to be associated with a franchise allows one to look at a wider pool of talent.
"The opportunity to coach a HIL team gives the inside view of what's happening with all the players. As a coach, I will not only be studying Kalinga Lancers but keep an eye on other franchise players as to how they are performing," Walsh told reporters ahead of their first away-game against Delhi Waveriders here tomorrow.
"If you look at the (national) coaching staff, it is spread across the franchises and the different set of coaches will be monitoring all the players, which, personally, I feel is very good," the 60-year-old said.
Hockey India's High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans is the chief coach of Sahara-owned Uttar Pradesh Wizards, M K Kaushik (assistant coach) is in-charge of Mumbai Marines, Baljit Saini (coach, junior team) is the assistant coach of Ranchi Rhinos and Dave Staniforth (goalkeeping coach of both senior and junior men's teams) is performing the role of goalkeeping coach for the Rhinos.
Asked about the difference in coaching a franchise in comparison to a national side, the Australian said mixing different cultures is the real challenge.
"When you are coaching a national team only two cultures (that of coach and players of a particular country) come together but in a franchise, as in our case, requires blending of five different cultures (Lancers have players of five nationalities) to bring the best in each one of them," he explained.
