PR Sreejesh Reflects On Junior Team Coach Job: Indian field hockey legend PR Sreejesh has been announced as the coach of the Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team. He has opened up about his new role and how he shares his learnings.
Sreejesh is a giant in modern-day Indian hockey. After India’s golden age in the sport ended in the 60s and 70s, with the last Olympic medal coming in the highly boycotted 1980 Moscow Games, India did produce many legends, but the team as a whole could not keep up with teams like Australia and the Netherlands.
A new low for Indian hockey came in 2008 when the men’s team failed to even qualify for the Olympics. But since then, the “national sport” has been on a steady climb, with Sreejesh playing a massive hand in it.
Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh made his national team debut in 2006 and has been India’s No. 1 goalkeeper since. Having made 336 appearances since the 36-year-old was the rock in front of the goal for Indian hockey.
At Rio 2016, the hockey team made it out of the group stage at the Olympics for the first time since 1980 but lost in the quarterfinal to eventual gold medallist Argentina. Since then, in two Olympic games, India has won two bronze medals. This includes the bronze at the recently concluded 2024 Paris Olympics.
Before the Olympics, Sreejesh had announced that he would retire from international hockey following the Games. In the tournament, he was in the form of his life, saving India from several tricky situations. His magnum opus, and that of the Indian defence, was in the quarterfinal against Great Britain, as a 10-man side displayed a defensive masterclass for about three quarters before winning it in the shootout.
After defeating Spain in the bronze medal match, not only did India win their second consecutive Olympic medal, but PR Sreejesh finished his career on a high.
PR Sreejesh Reflects On Junior Team Coach Job
Having now retired from hockey, the legendary keeper is not stepping away from the sport completely, as he will now be the coach of the junior men’s team, a side he played for two years before making his senior team debut in 2006.
Discussing his appointment, PR Sreejesh had this to say about passing on his experience to the next generation, saying,
“I have played under several accomplished coaches right through my career. I now feel that whatever experience and learnings I have taken from that, I would like to pass it on to the younger generation,” said Sreejesh at the event. Not just the Indian team, even any state team or school teams, I would like to share my learnings with all budding players. From skills to training to the other aspects of the sport, it is very important to lay the right foundation when a player is young.”
In honour of arguably the greatest Indian goalkeeper ever, his No. 16 jersey was retired by Hockey India in his honour.
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