What links bronze medal-winning India hockey team and 2011 ODI World Cup winners Indian team?

The Indian hockey team's bronze medal -winning triumph has a connection with the 2011 ODI World Cup-winning Indian cricket team. Helping the Indian men’s hockey team remain mentally strong through it all at the Paris Olympics was Paddy Upton.

The South African was part of Gary Kirsten’s coaching staff as Indian cricket team clinched their first World Cup in 28 years. Now, he was now part of Craig Fulton’s backroom team as strength and conditioning expert.

Hockey India had appointed Upton to closely work with the men’s hockey team as part of their preparations for the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. That stint continued to the Paris Olympics.

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At the time of his appointment, Fulton had highlighted the importance of mental training in high-performance sport.

“I think it’s quite plain to see that in high performance sport, those that have the mental edge are normally the most consistent and win more than they lose. Consistently, if you’re doing the right things more often than the opposition then you normally get the results or you set yourself up to get a result. So, that was the number one reason to get Paddy on board.”

Upton, who has worked with the South Africa cricket team and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, returned to the Indian cricket team as part of Rahul Dravid’s team. He remained in that role until the 2022 T20 World Cup.

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Before the Paris Olympics, Upton and the Indian hockey team went to the Alps to take them out of their comfort zone.

“The whole idea of going to Switzerland was to put players in a place they’ve never been before, where the adrenaline is up, the mind is going crazy. And there is a genuine fear,” Upton told The Indian Express.

He added: “We did things in the mountains and on cliffs that 100% no player has ever done before. And that very much triggered their anxiety and their adrenaline.

“There were a number of places where players needed support to be able to actually do things that were genuinely scary. We had very good safety, but if you made a mistake there was the possibility of there being much worse consequences than losing a hockey match.”