Preparing the juniors to take up bigger challenges, says Sreejesh

India junior men’s hockey team coach P.R. Sreejesh on Tuesday said that winning the Junior World Cup bronze medal has instilled a renewed sense of belief among the young players.

“Their confidence level is really high right now. They feel like they can achieve much more in their career and life,” he said on the sidelines of the second edition of the Tamil Nadu Sports Conclave (TASCON 2.0) here.

On how he sees the team’s evolution since taking over as coach, the 37-year-old said: “Their way of approaching the game has changed. You need a lot of mental preparation to approach a game. And that’s what we senior players always do – we share our experience, telling them how to prepare for a match. They have evolved a lot individually as well.”

Outlining his role in readying the youngsters for the demands of senior international hockey, Sreejesh said: “My duty is to tell them what they need to expect in the future. It’s not going to be easier like this with the senior team. There will be tougher challenges. The European teams and Australia are far superior. So, I prepare them to take up big challenges. This (Junior World Cup bronze) is the benchmark for them. This is the basic starting line for them. From here, they need to live up their life.”

He picked goalkeeper Prince Deep Singh, captain and defender Rohit, midfielders Ankit Pal, Manmeet Singh, and Rosan Kujur, and forward Arshdeep Singh as players who are already capable of breaking into the senior core group.