Only Virat Kohli can last half of hockey team’s training session: Paddy Upton

India Today

Hockey Asia Cup 2025: Mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton, speaking to India Today, discussed his latest stint with the senior men's hockey team. Upton, who worked with the Indian cricket team in the past, talked up the fitness levels of the Hamanpreet Singh-led hockey team.

Transcript

00:00Honour talking to you because of what you have done throughout your career.

00:04Now tell me this, how is this team unique from the earlier work that you have done

00:10and what makes this team so special to you?

00:13I think this team is the team that I worked with up until the Olympics.

00:18Obviously this is slightly different.

00:19There's one or two senior players with a lot of caps have moved on.

00:22There's some younger players.

00:24So this team is going through a little bit of a rebuilding.

00:27They need to find their feet both as a team, the connections with each other.

00:32So at this moment it's really about helping the building phase,

00:36creating the new team, getting really bedded down the team culture, the team environment.

00:41And the players have just come in helping them to manage their minds a little bit

00:45and start to discuss the concepts of distraction management and mental coaching.

00:50So coming to distraction management, you know, like this year,

00:53when you look at last year, it was a brilliant year for Indian hockey.

00:57This year started off on a very bad note.

00:59And then you have had a very tough game against China

01:02and then you followed it up with a better performance against Japan.

01:06So in those kind of circumstances, how do you work?

01:09How do you come in and tell that, okay, we understand that you're going through a rough phase,

01:14but this is what you need to do.

01:15How do you work with that?

01:17So the big thing is for me is to focus on the process.

01:20And I know it's the same with the coaches.

01:22What are the kind of strategies we're needing to follow?

01:25What are the kind of training, the preparation, the strategies?

01:29How well are we connecting as players?

01:30So it's really about the process as opposed to the results.

01:34Of course, the public focus on the results, but we tend to focus on the processes.

01:40And we know there's no team that is 9, 10 out of 10.

01:44You only want to be at 10, playing at 9 out of 10 or more in finals,

01:48in the really big tournaments.

01:49In the other tournaments, it's about building, laying the foundation,

01:53trying different combinations.

01:55So we were quite happy, obviously, getting the results with China and Japan games

02:01and weren't too concerned.

02:03We know we didn't play our best.

02:04The players knew they didn't play their best.

02:07But really good teams, they cannot play their best and still win,

02:11which is a sign of this being a good team.

02:13So how does this team keep you on your toes?

02:16Like how are they, you know, on the field, we know that they're one of the best teams out there.

02:21But off the field, how do they interact with you?

02:23And how do they keep you on your toes and make you learn as well?

02:28I think one of the big things is I don't know very much about hockey.

02:31So for me already, that's a really steep learning curve.

02:34I'm fascinated to learn about the game.

02:37Personally, having, this is only the second time I've worked in hockey,

02:41I can't understand why hockey is not more popular, why more people don't watch.

02:46I think the physical skill is truly remarkable.

02:49The speed of the game is remarkable.

02:51The amount of preparation and the training these players put into being able to go for 60 minutes

02:58at the speed and intensity they go.

03:00It really is a genuine high-performance sport.

03:03And this team, they are super fit.

03:06They're super detailed.

03:07They're unbelievably skilled.

03:09So for me, it's just so amazing to be part of such a high-performing team.

03:14I'm learning a lot.

03:15There's, I'm understanding the psychology of hockey where, you know, it's a team sport.

03:22Pricket's a team sport, but it's more individual hockey.

03:25You have to connect.

03:26Five, six players need to connect perfectly in flow to be able to get the ball into the back of the net, for example.

03:32So there's a lot to learn and the language barrier as well.

03:36There's always a challenge for me to get my message across when not everyone is as fluent in English.

03:41Unfortunately, I'm not fluent in Hindi either.

03:43So that keeps me on our toes.

03:45How do I get the message across that it lands with all players, regardless of their language?

03:50And, you know, when I was talking to the coach yesterday,

03:52he said his dream is to see this team probably one day win the Olympic gold and the World Cup.

03:58So do you feel, after interacting with these players,

04:00that they have that mentality in them to go and win both of them?

04:05Yes, this team has got what it takes.

04:08Also, the coach particularly has got that long-term view, which is great.

04:12I think it's important that a coach has that.

04:14If the coach is focusing one game at a time and having short-term views, that's really not very smart.

04:19So Craig is one of the smartest coaches that I've ever come across in terms of how his planning,

04:25his strategy, his long-term thinking.

04:27So the plan is, obviously, to do well at this tournament, qualify for the World Cup

04:31and then put all the building blocks in place.

04:33But this team is fit enough, there's enough skill, there's enough depth within Indian hockey

04:38and certainly the coaching staff and the leadership.

04:41There is everything it takes to be able to win World Cups and Olympic golds in this team.

04:46And it's just a case of putting it together excellently because the reality is

04:49there's also four or five other teams out there in the world who also have all the ingredients.

04:54And it's a case of who puts it together best in the lead-up to those really big tournaments

04:59and the key moments in those big tournaments.

05:01And that's what we'll be focusing on.

05:02And I know I've taken a lot of time from you.

05:05Maybe last one fun question to ask.

05:08The Indian team that you worked in cricket or this hockey team, which is your favourite at the moment?

05:13No, you can't even compare the two teams.

05:16I wouldn't even begin to compare them.

05:18It's just a completely different sport.

05:20What I'd love to do is bring the cricket team to come and do a half a training session with a hockey team.

05:29And I think you'll see the cricket team will all be lying on the floor.

05:31The only person who will last more than half a training session would be Virat, I think.

05:35So that's the one massive difference that I noticed.

05:38These guys are, there are 18 Virat Kohli's from a fitness perspective,

05:44where in the cricket team there's only one Virat Kohli from a fitness perspective.

05:47Sir, it's, like I said, an honour talking to you.

05:52Thanks for sharing this time and all the best.

05:54Thanks for sharing this time and all the best.

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