A coach who crafted victory

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Every great coach leaves behind an era of optimism and a legacy of winning. Be it the colossal European football leagues or a school’s hockey team, what is left behind after the coach parts ways with the team is a clear measure of his creativity and the efforts he puts in during his tenure.

If such a scale exists, then M. Rathish Kumar, the hockey coach and physical education teacher at Nadakkavu Government Girls’ Higher secondary school, in Kozhikode, will definitely fall in the category of coaches who leave behind a champion team, when he retires on March 31.

He has single-handedly groomed a handful of young players in hockey and raised the stature of the school to the topmost in the state.

The players he coached had the perfect gift for his retirement —the district team, mostly of the players from school, were runners up in the State Junior Women Hockey Championship, held recently in Pathanamthitta.

“The players were a little sad as we lost in a tiebreaker. They wanted to gift me a win but the Thiruvananthapuram team put up a good fight,” said Rathish.

A basketball national referee and a coach, Rathish did not have a clear idea about the training techniques in hockey when he joined the school. seven years ago. The hockey team in the school was a namesake and he wanted to give it a facelift.

“I consulted with some hockey coaches and bought coaching CDs. My focus has always been on youth development and I took players from class six and started to coach them.

We had to wait for three years to see the fruits of our labour and suddenly the school rose to prominence and won the state championships twice in a row,” he said. 14 players have so far played national-level competitions and about 40 students are taking hockey seriously right now in the school.

Currently, the district women’s hockey team consists mainly of players from the school. “It gives me a great pleasure when each student who has passed out from here and is playing in the university teams calls me and tells me about their victory. This is what has powered me so far,” he said.

Although he is retiring from coaching Rathish has decided to stay in sports. “I am taking a break from hockey and will be focussing on basketball. Since I am also a national referee in basketball, I need to now concentrate more on the game,” he adds before signing off.