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The former Indian custodian elaborated on the factors that would help shape the young hockey players in their ambitions to reach the very top of the game.
PR Sreejesh. (X)
Legendary Indian hockey goalie PR Sreejesh, who recently called time on his international career, opined that the relaunch of the Hockey India League would serve as a stepping stone for the youngsters in the nation with aspirations to make it big in the sport.
Sreejesh will serve as the director and mentor of the Delhi SG Pipers franchise in the upcoming season of the HIL slated to be held in Rourkela and Ranchi from December 28.
The former Indian custodian elaborated on the factors that would help shape the young hockey players in their ambitions to reach the very top of the game.
“Seriously, it’s going to be a nursery for the youngsters. They can learn anything. They can learn everything from this tournament, starting from, how to handle pressure because you are playing in front of a very big crowd,” he began.
“And the second thing is like you are in a short span of time, you’re playing a lot of matches, more than 10, more than 12 matches you are playing. Or if you are getting into the finals, I mean around 16 matches you are playing,” Sreejesh added.
“Then after that, when it comes to a team, you are learning from the seniors or from the foreigners, you are learning about the team management, how you are motivating the players, how we are communicating during a team meeting, or how we are taking initiative in a training session, or how are you preparing yourself for a match, or how are you cooling down, warm down after a match. So you can learn everything here,” the 36-year-old stated.
“And most importantly, you mature as a player, you mature as an international player. It’s not for beginners but for anyone. Even the players, those who are playing at the international level or so, they can learn from the seniors, those who are part of this tournament,” he added.
Sreejesh expressed his delight with the manner in which the Delhi Pipers unit is shaping up ahead of the returning league as the double Olympic bronze medallist shed light on the healthy culture present in the side.
“See, we got Shamsher, Jarmanpreet, Raj Kumar Pal from the last Olympics, and Varun Kumar definitely from the 2021 Olympic Games, who got the flavour of the Olympics medal. So they are excited to be here. I believe that they can guide youngsters from my junior team, the players from the under-21, Rohit, Ankit and Dilraj. So these players can learn from these seniors, first of all,” he said.
“Delhi SG Pipers, what talented youngsters here in this team. Good team and good players. I think with a director post, or you can say it’s a mentor post, my duty is to take this team to their best performance.”
“I just keep on telling my players that just enjoy this tournament because it’s not less than an international match. You are playing against the top players in the world. You are playing alongside the best players in the world. So you can learn a lot of things.”
“You can try a lot of things. And this is the platform where you can get direct tickets to the national team. So just to enjoy this period is really important. So as a director, I’m also learning a lot of things from this. So it’s going to be a new start for it in hockey,” Sreejesh added.