Legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh says he hopes to realise his dream of becoming chief coach of the senior national team in the next five years, by which time he expects to gain the required maturity while working with juniors.
Sreejesh is currently the head coach of the junior men’s hockey team and has already expressed his desire to head the senior side.
“Coaching is new to me. I played hockey for 25 years. So juniors is the right place for me to learn. I don’t have the patience for the sub-junior level where you need to teach basics,” Sreejesh told PTI an an exclusive interview.
“From a player to becoming a coach is a transition. I feel juniors is the best platform where I can learn a lot of things. So right now I am in that process.
“I need that maturity of becoming a senior coach. I can’t suddenly jump into that. But definitely that’s a future target. I am doing my bit, I have done the FIH Level 3 coaching course,” he said.
“Five to six years down the line, I think I will have the experience to head the Indian men’s team as coach,” said the talismanic custodian, who is the Director of Hockey at HIL side Delhi SG Pipers.
Sreejesh, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist, believes India has the potential to finish on the podium in the upcoming junior World Cup to be held in Chennai and Madurai from November 28 till December 10.
“This team does have the potential to win the medal. In juniors or seniors, if you have to come to the top four, you have to control your emotions, need to learn to handle pressure, and play the normal game,” he said.
India will compete in the Sultan of Johor Cup, an invitational tournament in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, from October 11 to 19 and Sreejesh feels the event will be the perfect opportunity to work on the grey areas before the mega-event.
“We chose 25 players, who were largely probables for the Junior World Cup, so they knew tournaments like the Sultan of Johor Cup are the last phase of preparations. In this tournament, we would like to polish the skills because we have already taught them the system.
“This tournament is going to be an eye-opener for us and we will get an idea how much more work we need to do,” he said.
Sreejesh said that, besides the intricacies of the game, he is involving the junior players in reading meaningful books by renowned sportspersons and coaches.
“You need to play hockey, there is nothing more than that, but what I have inculcated in them is to read a book ‘Relentless’, a book written by Michael Jordan’s coach. It’s all about passion, hardwork and so on.
“We are doing that keeping in mind that young guys think differently. Start thinking differently. They young players get annoyed sometimes because I tend to keep them away from mobile addiction as well with this exercise,” he said.
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“In this one-hour session, they are in a different world,” Tim S Grover, a renowned trainer to athletes like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, has co-authored the book with Shari Lesser Wenk.
After a disappointing HIL season last year, where both SG Pipers men’s and women’s teams finished at the bottom, they are expecting a positive result from the upcoming HIL. “Majority of the players we have retained, we just need three players in the men’s team and for the women’s team we need eight,” Sreejesh said of HIL mini auction here on Wednesday, which will be held closed doors.
“For men, we have approximately 51 lakhs in hand and for women, around Rs 76 lakhs. We need a playmaker for the men’s team who can control the team.”
Published on Sep 23, 2025