On a warm morning at the SAI campus in Bengaluru, the India men's hockey team was being put through its paces. It was a hard, two-hour training session for the 36-odd players; divided into three groups, their drills included ball control, shooting and running. Overseeing it all was head coach Craig Fulton. He'd just received ESPN India's Coach of the Year 2024 award for guiding the team to an Olympic bronze in Paris, but, typically, Fulton has his eyes firmly focused on 2026.
Specifically, on a one-month period in August and September, with the World Cup in Netherlands and Belgium quickly followed by the Asian Games, which is the qualification route for the LA Olympics 2028. And Fulton is aware of the challenges of that schedule.
"I just think the number one focus is building depth. We need a big, competitive squad, because you've got a World Cup, and three weeks later you go to the Asian Games. Like if you went to European hockey and said, 'You're going to play the World Cup, and in three weeks that you're going to play the Europeans,' they wouldn't accept it. They wouldn't play it. It's impossible for them. But now we have this challenge, and we have to plan for that."
"So that means we have to build a bigger squad, because within three weeks, you've come off such a big high. Whatever happens, win, lose or draw in terms of the World Cup, your next main focus is qualifying for LA (Olympics). So, there's the challenge that we have to be ready for. That's what I see as a focus. And then we work back from that," says Fulton.
Preparations for the next big year have already started. The core of Fulton's philosophy will remain the same - which is playing controlled hockey based around a tight defence - but he agrees that some changes are needed. Fitness, both mental and physical, is where he wants to make a few improvements.
"I think it (philosophy) changes a little bit now that we need a different type of fitness because the two tournaments are so close. So, if you've got a group that plays the one tournament they need to sustain to play the other tournament. We have to do a very good job in 2026 of building better athletes that can also have a bit more stamina, not just power and speed, but also a lot of stamina. Because there's a lot of games in a very short space of time. And then how to refresh them, and then how to get them excited to play. I don't think you need too much incentive to play in a World Cup but you need to be on your A game, you know, B game won't cut it. So that's what we have to be aware of," he says.
After @manpreetpawar07 presented Craig Fulton with the ESPN INDIA COACH OF THE YEAR 2024 award, listen to the India's men's hockey team coach's acceptance speech, made to his players and staff #ESPNIndiaAwards2024 #HockeyIndia pic.twitter.com/Z2s3hAucYm
- ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) March 28, 2025
With such a big focus on fitness, it's understandable why India's players went through tough sessions in March even though there are no big international commitments until June (when the Pro League campaign restarts). The players will now leave the national camp and play in the Senior National Tournament in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh before coming back to Bengaluru for another camp in April.
Once the Pro League is done, Fulton has plans to take a team of U-25 players to play in Europe in the month of July. This will be the India-A team that he wants to develop to increase the depth of the national squad, which will also include players from the junior team, currently training under PR Sreejesh.
"[From the junior team] I have already used Amir (Ali), Araijeet (Hundal) and Gurjot (Singh) in a tournament. The big challenges are with the players we haven't used -- Sukhvinder, Rohit, Ankit (Pal), Rosan (Kujur). So that's the next phase. [We need] to blend his [Sreejesh] program and our program. July looks like a good opportunity for us to do that," says Fulton.
It's a difficult road ahead. There will be pressure and heightened expectations on the team, especially during the World Cup, which India have won only once. India's previous World Cup performance led to the departure of Fulton's predecessor, Graham Reid. But Fulton has his own tenure to take inspiration from. When he arrived, it was difficult to change the team's overall philosophy -- from highly attacking to playing controlled hockey. Immediate success never came, but Fulton's persistence soon paid off as India won an Asian Games gold and bronze at the Paris Olympics bronze.
"I think it was to really instill a mindset to defend, and everyone didn't really understand it," says Fulton on his biggest challenge when he came in. "Because, you know, we score goals, but what happens on the day the opposition defends well, and you don't score goals, but then you yourself can't defend. You lose those games, and those are the games that end up in quarterfinals, semifinals and finals."
"So, I'm proud of that. That was difficult because you don't want to go away from what you are good at. But having said that, if you instill that, you can attack from anyone, and it plays back to your strength again. So that took a while. But the players, the coaching staff and everyone really took it on board and wanted to improve, and I think we did a good job over time."
Unlike the first phase of his tenure, Fulton doesn't need to convince his players about his methods anymore. Now, there's a strong belief in him and it's a great starting point going into another crucial period.