By Monojit Mandal
SHILLONG: India has players with good potential but it´s necessary to groom them with a proper tactical and technical plan , says Jose Hevia, technical director at Shillong Lajong FC.
In an exclusive interview with The Shillong Times, Jose, who is a Spanish citizen and a UEFA Pro Licensed Coach with over 25 years of coaching/management experience at various levels, said that the methodology of coaches for the preparation of the teams must change right now. He said that the best football player is not necessarily the fastest, the strongest, the tallest or the most defined.
“As a positive criticism, it’s very important that football in India starts working with a better tactical and technical working plan combined with a proper fitness programme. The best player is the player who has a good overall balance in all aspects with the coordination psychomotor and decision-making as the main essence,” Said Hevia.
“Spain won the 2010 World Cup with a generation of players with the least height and strength in our history, but with the most talented, best decision-making and most coordinated players in our history,” he added.
Hevia, who has spent almost six years travelling all over India while based in four cities with four clubs — Pune with FC Pune City, Chandigarh with Minerva Punjab FC, Bhopal with Celtic FC Soccer School, Madhya Bharat and now in Shillong with Shillong Lajong FC — and working with players of all categories and competitions like ISL, I League first and second division, Hero Youth League U18 and U16, said that his present stint has been very fulfilling.
“The attitude, interest, progression, good overall technical conditions in all the players and the good predisposition to learn without showing any kind of doubt about what I was proposing to them, has given me a great sense of self-fulfilment every day in my work with them just as I had felt in Spain during my 24 years of coaching career before coming to India,” he said.
Talking about the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on the sport, Hevia said that this is causing great damage overall, to individual players, coaches and fans around the world.
He said this ‘dramatic moment’ is harming the players, coaches and the sport.
“The lack of collective activity, of working together can’t be compensated by individual work by each one”, he said.
On playing without fans in the stadium, Hevia said both the players and coaches would feel weird playing without them in an empty stadium. He also said that playing in an empty stadium would also have a psychological consequence on the players.
“The fans are very important to give support to the players and also to create a special atmosphere. I love to have the stadiums full of supporters in all matches, so the situation without the faithful around is very weird but it´s what we have to respect now.
“Also, talking as a graduate in Psychology that I am, obviously, the absence of fans will directly affect the psychological behaviour of the players”, he said.
Hevia, however, said that players with “mental weakness” would be more comfortable on the field without the pressure of supporters of the other team as that directly affects performance in the pressure moments. Even the pressure of not performing well in front of their own fans is a “problem” to these players. That’s why there will be players who will be “glad” to have this situation.
“But for players with high level of self-confidence and self-esteem, the absence of fans can affect them. These players like their fans to be present to enjoy and fans of their opponents to suffer”, Hevia said.