NEW DELHI: Former India defender-turned-coach Birendra Lakra believes coaching is far more demanding than playing, but he remains eager to grow, upgrade his skills and embrace new methods to seize future opportunities.
Lakra, a bronze medallist from the Tokyo Olympics, is currently serving as the assistant coach of the Indian men’s junior hockey team. Alongside former teammate and head coach PR Sreejesh, he is guiding the young squad at the FIH Junior World Cup being held in Chennai and Madurai.
The 35-year-old Odisha-born stalwart, who joined the junior coaching setup in May, has quickly established himself as a crucial tactical voice within the group.
"It's a new experience for me. As a player it was different inside the ground and a coach the role is completely different. But it is an opportunity for me to learn new things in coaching," Lakra told PTI.
"Coaching is a bit difficult than playing (even though) both are totally different. Coaching is much harder because of the responsibilities. In coaching, there is plenty of responsibility involved. A coach has to make strategies, manage the side, players, motivate them and many things more," he added.
Lakra, who has an Asian Games gold (2014) and bronze (2018) to his name, is yet to undergo any FIH coaching certification but plans to pursue one after the Junior World Cup.
"Currently, my focus is with junior side but in future if whenever I get opportunities I will polish my coaching skills, be more confident and learn new things. It is very important for a coaching career. I haven' done any FIH coaching course yet but will start doing after this tournament," he said.
During matches, Lakra is responsible for communicating with players from the dug out while the legendary Sreejesh views the game from vantage points and passes on tactical information to his former teammate.
"He (Sreejeesh) sits at the top in gallery or somewhere and advises me in the dug out about what the game situation demands. He keeps on giving me information and I just forward those to the players," Lakra said.
"It's not that difficult because we have played together for 10-12 years. So we have an understanding and things become easy. I have shared rooms with him and we have a good tuning."
As a coach, Sreejesh is considered as a strict taskmaster, and Lakra said it is important to have that attitude while coaching at the junior level.
"There is nothing like friendly or strict. As a coach you just have to do your job, you can't be much friendly when you are playing major tournaments. You need to be keep some distance with the players especially at the junior level," he said.
"This is the time for these junior players to develop and learn. These players have (also) played a lot so they know where they need development."
