Roelant Oltmans: The Coach with the Midas touch

Oltmans whipped the boys into incredible shape in astonishingly short time

Indian senior men’s hockey team head coach Roelant Oltmans has surely raised his coaching profile after guiding the national side to its first-ever medal in an FIH-sanctioned tournament at the 2015 Hockey World League Final Round.

The hosts gave the defending HWL champions the Netherlands a run for their money en route to a thrilling 8-7 win in a shootout after both teams were tied 5-5 in regulation time. Ever since the disastrous 2012 London Olympics, the national team have witnessed four foreign coaches with Roelant Oltmans being foisted after controversial exits of Michael Nobbs, Terry Walsh and Paul van Ass.

It may not be wrong to suggest that Oltmans has panned out to be talismanic for the Indian team. He twice donned the head coach hat as a stop-gap arrangement – first at the 2013 Asia Cup in Ipoh, where he helped the boys to a silver medal, having taken charge after Michael Nobbs stepped down.

He again became the stop-gap coach during the 2014 Champions Trophy in Bhubaneshwar, where the national team rose to the occasion and managed to reach the semifinals after losing the first two league games against Germany and Argentina. India had upset the Netherlands and Belgium before losing in the semifinal to arch-rival Pakistan and later to Australia in the bronze medal play-off tie to finish fourth.

Clearly, the team was used to Oltmans’ coaching methods when he was named head coach after Paul van Ass made his exit in August 2015 after the Hockey World League Semifinal Round in Belgium.

Oltman’s first test was the European tour of France and Spain, where the team performed well, winning four of the five games and losing one. His next stop was New Zealand, where India played a Test series after a gap of six years and pulled off a creditable 2-1 win in the four-match rubber against a higher ranked side. Oltmans was by now on a roll – his team narrowly lost the Test series against Australia in a shootout after both teams were equal on aggregate goals.

And then came the massive effort at the Hockey World League Final Round, where India shook off the cobwebs of a sloppy league stage performance to halt the unbeaten run of Great Britain in the quarterfinals and then stunned the Netherlands after trailing 0-2 at half-time and then falling behind in the early stages of the nerve-wracking shootout.

There isn’t any doubt that Oltmans has built on the structure laid by Terry Walsh and is adding new dimensions to it making the team believe that they can spike the guns of any side in the world. The celebrated Dutchman has coached India in 29 matches, winning 16, losing 11 and drawing 3.

Roelant Oltmans’ Coaching File

Matches as coach: 29

Won: 15

Lost: 11

Draw: 3

Big wins for India under Roelant Oltmans as head coach

Beat the Netherlands 3-2 2014 Champions Trophy

Beat Belgium 4-2 2014 Champions Trophy

Beat Australia 4-2 2015 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup

Beat New Zealand 3-1 2015 Test Series

Beat New Zealand 3-2 2015 Test Series

Beat Australia 2-2 2015 Test Series

Beat Great Britain 2-1 2015 Hockey World League Final Round

Beat the Netherlands 3-2 8-7 (5-5) 2015 Hockey World League Final Round

Trophy Cabinet:

Helped India win a silver medal at the 2013 Asia Cup

Won bronze at the 2015 Hockey World League Final Round