The essence of the Jose Brasa plan, with no distinction between defensive and offensive players, is that everyone plays with the ultimate goal of scoring goals. Spaniard Brasa, India’s new hockey coach who boasts of an Olympic gold in 1992 with the Spanish women’s team, started his coaching career when he was only 17. Going through the rough and tumble with Team India probables at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City in Balewadi, Brasa spoke to The Indian Express about the road ahead as India try to move up in the rankings. Excerpts:

Where is the Indian team physically compared to European players? What measures are you taking to improve their fitness levels?

• The Europeans have a higher percentage of fast muscle fibres as compared to Indians. Fitness-wise, we are not at our best, but we are using a scientific approach to address this. We should be among the fittest Asian teams by the Asian Games in November 2010. We are waiting for equipment like heart rate monitors and lactic acid analysers to work out better plans.

What do you have to say about the available infrastructure?

• Most Indian pitches are made of polyethylene, while nylon 6/6 is considered the best material. We don’t have even one such pitch in India. The ones that we trained on in Pune are far from the best. The ball bobbles too much. Fast-running players tend to lose the ball and are in danger of getting seriously injured. Another problem is that the asphalt under the mat is not impermeable. This causes water to settle under the pitch. Also, high temperatures mean that using glue to attach pitches is not advisable as it melts and causes problems. Stitching the pitches together is a better idea.

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