When it comes to making champions or title-winning sides, Paddy Upton has made it a habit of producing the best results. It all started in 2011 when the mental conditioning coach was part of the backroom staff alongside Gary Kirsten, overseeing India’s incredible World Cup triumph at home — a win that was all about showing resilience in the mind.
Then came the Paris Olympics in 2024, where he played his part in the Indian men’s hockey team’s bronze medal win. Later that year, he helped a young D. Gukesh create history by becoming the youngest chess world champion.
Now, Upton is back with Craig Fulton and his side in a bid to make them champions of Asia, with a bigger picture in mind. Winning the Asia Cup would seal India’s qualification for the World Cup next year in Belgium and the Netherlands — a tournament Indian hockey fans have pinned high hopes on.
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Upton began his association with the Indian hockey team in 2023, right after their disastrous home World Cup campaign. Then-coach Graham Reid identified the need for a mental conditioning expert, and Fulton was quick to rope in his compatriot.
The results soon followed, with the bronze medal in Paris. But India stumbled earlier this year during a poor Pro League campaign, where a string of defeats derailed much of the momentum built in the past few seasons.
Now Upton is back with the team for the Asia Cup, and the change has been evident. India ground out wins against China and Japan before dispatching Kazakhstan with ease in the pool phase.
India Today caught up with the 56-year-old mental conditioning expert, who said the current side is in transition. Upton feels the team is still finding its feet as a unit, especially in terms of building connections, and his role is to help guide that phase.
“I think this team is is slightly different from the one I worked until the Olympics with. There’s one or two senior players with a lot of caps have moved on. There’s some younger players who have come in, so this team is going through a little bit of a rebuilding.
They need to find their feet, both as a team, the connections with each other. So at this moment, it’s really about helping the building phase, creating the new team, getting really bedded down the team culture, the team environment. And the players who’ve just come in, it’s about helping them to manage their minds a little bit and start to discuss the concepts of distraction management and mental coaching,” said Upton.
Focus on process, not results
For the younger players in the system, distractions are everywhere. After the Pro League debacle, many began to question whether India would falter again and miss out on World Cup qualification.
Upton said his focus is always on processes rather than results. He believes while teams need to peak at the big tournaments, the smaller events are about laying foundations.
“So the big thing for me is to focus on the process and I know it’s the same with the coaches. What are the kind of strategies we need to follow, what are the kind of training, preparation, strategies, how well we are connecting as players?
“So it’s really about the process as opposed to the results. Of course, the, public focusses on the results, but we tend to focus on the processes and we know there’s no team that is 9 or 10 out of 10. You only want to be at 10 or playing at a 9 out of 10 or more in finals in big tournaments.”
“In the other tournaments, it’s about building, laying the foundation, trying different combinations. So we were quite happy obviously getting the results from China and Japan games and weren’t too concerned. We know we didn’t play our best. The players knew they didn’t play their best. But really good teams, they can play not at their best and still win, which is a sign of this being a good team,” said Upton.
‘The Indian hockey team is like 18 Virat Kohlis’
When asked how it feels to work with this group, Upton admitted he is still learning about hockey but said he is already in awe of the players’ physical levels and on-field skills.
“I think one of the big things is I don’t know very much about hockey, so for me already that’s a really steep learning curve. I’m fascinated to learn about the game. Personally, this is only the second time I’ve worked in hockey, I can’t understand why hockey is not more popular, why more people don’t watch it. I think the physical skill is truly remarkable.
The speed of the game is remarkable. The amount of preparation and the training these players put into it. Being able to go for 60 minutes at the speed and intensity they go, it really is a genuine high-performance sport, and this team, they are super fit, they are super detailed, they are unbelievably skilled,” said Upton.
The South African added that the team keeps him on his toes, forcing him to learn more about a sport that demands perfect coordination, unlike cricket where individuals can often carry the day.
“It’s just so amazing to be part of such a high-performing team. I’m learning a lot. I’m understanding the psychology of hockey where you know it’s a team sport. Cricket is a team sport, but it’s more individual. Hockey, you have to connect.
Players need to connect perfectly in flow to be able to get the ball into the back of the net, for example. So there’s a lot to learn, and the language barrier as well. There’s always a challenge for me to get my message across when not everyone is as fluent in English. Unfortunately, I’m not fluent in Hindi either, so that keeps me on my toes,” said Upton.
Comparing the hockey side with the Indian cricket team, Upton pointed out the difference in fitness levels, saying only Virat Kohli could cope with the hockey squad’s training demands.
“You can’t even compare the two teams. I wouldn’t even begin to compare them. It’s just a completely different sport. What I’d love to do is bring the Indian cricket team to come and do a half training session with the hockey team, and I think you’ll see the cricket team will all be lying on the floor.
The only person who will last more than half a training session would be Virat Kohli, I think. So that’s the one massive difference that I noticed. These guys are 18 Virat Kohli’s from a fitness perspective, where in the cricket team there’s only 1 Virat Kohli from a fitness perspective,” said Upton.
‘India has what it takes to win World Cup, Olympic gold double’
Coach Fulton recently spoke of his dream to win both the World Cup and Olympic gold with this team, a vision Upton believes is realistic. He praised his compatriot’s long-term planning and strategy.
“Yes, this team has got what it takes. Also, the coach particularly has got that long-term view, which is great. I think it’s important that a coach has that. So Craig is one of the smartest coaches that I’ve ever come across in terms of his planning, strategy and long-term thinking,” said Upton.
The mental conditioning coach went on to say that in terms of skill and depth, Indian hockey has the ingredients to achieve the double.
“So the plan is obviously to do well at this tournament qualify for the World Cup and then put all the building blocks in place, but this team is fit enough.
There’s enough skill and depth within Indian hockey, and certainly they have the coaching staff and the leadership. They have everything needed to be able to win World Cups and Olympic golds, and it’s just a case of putting it together excellently.
Because the reality is, there are also 4 or 5 other teams out there in the world who also have all the ingredients, and it’s a case of who puts it best in the lead up to those big tournaments and the key moments in those events, and that’s what we’ll be focusing on,” said Upton.
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