Halappa starts new journey

 “I was after him for four years, and this time he finally agreed,” said Roelant Oltmans, the head coach of the Indian hockey team on the appointment of one of his assistant coaches.

On the face of it, one would think Oltmans is talking about some foreigner who was too reluctant to join forces with him at the Indian team. The Dutchman, however, was talking about one of India’s finest players, Arjun Halappa.

“They had been asking me for the last four years but I was playing regularly on the domestic circuit so I didn’t want to give up on that,” said Halappa who has now joined the team as an assistant coach.

“I’m still playing. But this time when Roelant called, I spoke with my employers (Air India). They were worried since they are building a team. But they let me take a call. Roelant has been asking and I’ve been saying no. But you can’t keep on prolonging it. Now I thought it’s the right time.”

Halappa, along with Jugraj Singh are the two hands that Oltmans has roped into his support staff. While Jugraj will work on India’s penalty corner specialists Runpinder Pal Singh and Harmanpreet Singh, Halappa is expected to contribute in fine tuning the attacking prowess of the side. For the Kodava, though, it’s more than just that. “For now, I am seeing this as a learning period. It’s important to me and I want to grow. Roelant is a good coach. Of course Jugraj is a specialist drag flicker and he will help with that, but overall it will be a team effort. You can’t say (what my individual role is). If I can contribute even a little bit to Indian hockey, I'll be happy,” he explained.

Coaching for Halappa is more than just a way to be in the game. He sees it as an opportunity to show the world that the Indians can be good man mangers at the top level.

“Everyone talks about how there are no good Indian coaches. No Indian coach has achieved something big. But that changed with Harendra (Singh) winning the Junior World Cup. I have been with him since our early days.

And it’s his dedication that has made him what he is. He’s the only Indian coach to have done a FIH Masters coaching programme. And all this because he wanted to show the world that India can produce quality hockey coaches too. I want that trend to continue. I am very happy that I have Roelant and Harendra who I can approach any time,” he stated.

“I want to give back to the game and I think coaching is a one way to do that. Yes, everyone aspires to be a national coach, but if I can be a good coach at the grassroots, go back to Coorg and help develop quality talent for the country, I’ll be contributing to hockey in India. That’s my target.”