At one point in the Paris Olympics, it looked like the Indian men's hockey team had no chance to better (or retain) the medal they had won at Tokyo. But under the leadership of Craig Fulton, a coach with a distinctly un-Indian style of play, a coach many had doubts about after months of failure, they did just that.
India had been whitewashed 0-5 in Australia in a friendly series just before the Games. They had been unimpressive in their first two Games, but the team never lost faith. Captain Harmanpreet Singh talks to ESPN, about his coach, his friend, and the man who guided India to a second consecutive Olympic bronze:
"He knew what we were doing. He was calm. Our main target before the major tournaments was to see if we were able to implement our ideas and become stronger in our ways. We [decided we] will not go only by the results. At the end of the day, our main focus was the Olympics."
It wasn't easy, because Fulton was appointed right on the back of a disappointing World Cup campaign, one which led to the sacking of popular coach Graham Reid and put Harmanpreet under intense scrutiny. But Fulton had two secrets to unlocking success: friendship, and individual attention.
"He came at a time when there was not a lot of time. We had a few major tournaments in a short time. I think whatever time he had, he used it really well to spend it with the players. He spoke with every single player, be it during the meetings, on the ground or while walking after a training session. He believes in one-on-one conversations. He convinced us to trust his methods and not just go by the results. He gave confidence to players by backing their strengths. He gave the license to play to their strengths. Players felt that the coach trusted them."
"The day we met him, it was like how you meet your friends. We'd seen him earlier; he was with Belgium, and we used to see him during the tournaments. Our first meeting was very nice, all the players spoke to him. He's very open-minded, it's important for a coach to gel with his players and how quickly he does it. Also, how good his communication is. The first meeting was full of good vibes. He's a friend. But never loses focus from his responsibilities on the ground. We do a week full of hard training and then he joins us for a day of fun."
These aren't just platitudes. You could see in real-time how Fulton adapted his coaching philosophy to suit his player's strengths, to address the needs of matches in-game.
"Every coach has his own ideas. But it's during the match and during the training sessions [that Fulton stands out]. Be it structures or technical aspects, his analysis is really good. During the games, he analyses and makes subtle changes if he wants to. He has so many ideas that he shares with us and benefit from them during the tournament."
The best part? Fulton's not satisfied with bronze.
"Even after the bronze medal, he was a bit upset because he knew we deserved more. We achieved our target of finishing on the podium but even then, the coach is not fully satisfied. But we achieved what we wanted to do and that way, his vision was always clear."
And so, for believing in his methods, for making the players believe in him and guiding them to an Olympic medal, Craig Fulton is ESPN India's coach of the year.