Krishan Pathak has firmly established himself as the heir apparent to the legendary India men’s hockey custodian PR Sreejesh. His ever-improving performances in the past couple of years have propelled him ahead of the competition and while he knows the importance of absorbing the wisdom from his much-decorated and illustrious senior, Pathak knows it’s his strengths that will put him in good stead when the baton passes.
The 25-year-old has already clocked over a century of appearances in an India shirt and tasted some success at the international level. So he has gathered experiences of his own, taken notes and implemented them to keep polishing his skills.
The physical aspect is as important as the mental for any athlete. So is the case with a goalkeeper, especially during set pieces and penalty shootouts.
Mental toughness is an area that Pathak began acquiring at a very young age courtesy of personal losses.
Pathak was just 12 and still understanding what the sport was all about when he lost his mother. Then in 2015, on the eve of the Junior World Cup, his father passed away.
What was even more tragic was the fact that Pathak wasn’t able to attend his father’s funeral since he was in England touring with the team and the rites were to be performed the same evening.
So he stayed back to represent India while braving the tragedy that had struck him at such a young age.
ALSO READ| ‘Suno Subki But Focus Apne Game Par’: India Captain Harmanpreet Singh Unfazed by Distractions as He Targets Asiad Hockey Gold | EXCLUSIVE
Notably, Pathak and his family had moved from Nepal to Punjab for a better life. He has two sisters who live in Nepal and a brother who works abroad.
So when his father died, Pathak had no family left in India except for an uncle in Kapurthala.
“Yeah, when I started playing hockey, certain things happened in my life which were difficult to deal with, there were family problems,” Pathak told News18 Sports.
“Compared with the challenges that I face today, I don’t feel much pressure. The situation that I was in and came out of it, the pressure was different. So right now I feel quite relaxed and handle pressure with confidence. So, in a way it has helped him a bit,” he added.
Pathak initially began to take an interest in hockey because his friends were playing the sport. Since in their age group, they didn’t have a goalkeeper, the coach asked him to play in that position and thus began his journey.
“When in school, my friends used to play hockey and so I started playing too. In our age group, there wasn’t a goalkeeper, I was 10 or 11 during that time. So the coach asked me to fill that position because they didn’t have one. Back then, I didn’t know the different hockey positions. I agreed to the coach’s suggestion and so the journey began. Yeah, but I didn’t volunteer to be a goalkeeper,” Pathak recalls.
India at Asian Games: FULL COVERAGE | MEDAL TALLY | RESULTS | SCHEDULE
Becoming a goalkeeper was a journey that Pathak may have not chosen himself but it has today brought him to a stage where he has now clocked over 100 matches for India and pushed him first in line to succeed the great Sreejesh.
“Like I said before, I started playing hockey only because my friends used to. Never thought one day I would be able to play 100 games for my country. It’s a proud moment for me and my family,” he said.
One of the standout features of Pathak’s ability as the custodian is his composure during penalty corners and penalty shootouts. A lot of work has gone behind the scenes to improve his physical and mental skills.
“I practice (penalty shootout) with players and often do that during training sessions. I believe that training should be taken as seriously as you would take an international match. The attitude should be the same whether it’s practice (match) or an international match, can’t take it lightly. Practising for penalty shootouts should be done with the same tempo. So when training for penalty shootouts, in my mind, it’s an actual match situation and not just a training session. It’s something that I feel has helped,” Pathak said.
The Indian men’s hockey team is now adapting to the coaching philosophy of the new head coach Craig Fulton who took over the reins earlier this year.
While Graham Reid, the erstwhile coach, wanted the team to play an attacking brand of hockey, Fulton’s idea is to ‘defend to win’.
Asian Games 2023 Live Updates September 29
“Yeah, we used to play attacking hockey before but we haven’t completely given up on that. Fulton’s formula is to defend to win and we are employing that. During the Asian Champions Trophy, we focused on defending and scored several goals through counterattacks. So, my role in that is to keep my defenders ready, what should be the structure of our back-four to counterattack (effectively) and the role of a free man. The role of goalkeeper is to continuously guide them, help them with their positioning, how they need to shift,” Pathak said.
“So he mostly talks about how I should be guiding the defenders and maintaining the structure, how to prevent counterattacks and guide defenders accordingly. So these are the few things he’s told us and we are working on them,” he added.
Hockey India continues to employ the services of former Netherlands goalkeeper Dennis van de Pol. He has been helping the Indian goalkeepers through various camps with the most recent being held just before the Asian Games.
“We have been working for the past year or so with him. The recent camp was about rectifying the mistakes committed during the Asian Champions Trophy. These are the teams that will be in the Asian Games too so the preparations have been designed accordingly. He asked us, Sreejesh bhai and others (goalkeepers) what we felt about the last tournament and the areas that need to be worked on. We shared our experience with him, worked mostly on second balls and rebounds,” Pathak said.
Additionally, HI also roped in Paddy Upton, the celebrated mental conditioning coach who was with the Indian men’s cricket team when they won the 2011 ODI World Cup.
“He (Upton) has told us about how to handle pressure during major events. In our recent camps, he talked about team building, there have been classes about how to create the right team atmosphere and how to interact with teammates. All this is to ensure there’s unity in the team. I think it’s quite useful,” Pathak said.
Presence of a senior like Sreejesh who has seen it all provides Pathak with a rich source to imbibe knowledge and use it to improve his game.
“His (Sreejesh’s) contribution towards Indian hockey is immense. Out styles are different so he has always advised him to focus on my strengths. It’s a good thing. I cannot start playing like him. I focus on my strengths and my quickness. His feedback gives me a lot of confidence,” Pathak said.
ALSO READ| Asian Games: Anju Bobby George Predicts ‘Huge Number’ of Medals from Athletics in ‘Jumps, Throws, Relay’
The Indian team has made a terrific start to their campaign in the Asian Games in Hangzhou (China) and Pathak says their target is to win gold and qualify for the Olympics so that they can start preparing early for the Summer Games without wasting time.
“We going for gold and the target is to qualify for the Paris Olympics. In 2018, we had to play qualifiers. So, obviously, if you don’t qualify (through Asiad), then we have to start preparing for the qualifiers. Qualifying here will mean we have more time to prepare for the Olympics,” Pathak said.
Comments
0 comment