Hockey India announces support staff for men’s and women’s teams

Hockey India announced on Friday that Rhett Halkett and Alan Tan will join the support staff of the Indian men’s hockey team in their new roles as analytical coach and scientific advisor, respectively.

The Governing Body of Hockey in India had earlier announced Craig Fulton as the new Chief Coach for the men’s hockey team. Hockey India also announced that former Japan women’s hockey team head coach Anthony Farry will fill in the position of analytical coach for the Indian women’s hockey team.

Rhett, a former South African international, amassed 155 international caps between 2010 and 2018. In 2020, Rhett went on to join the Netherlands women’s hockey team as the assistant coach. In his one-year tenure, he was part of the support staff during the FIH Women’s Pro League 2020–21, European Championships, and Tokyo Olympics. In 2022, Rhett took over the role of assistant coach for the Scotland men’s hockey team and also led the Scotland U-21 men’s hockey team as the head coach.

Alan Tan comes with over 10.5 years of experience working as the Strength and Conditioning Coach at the NSW Institute of Sport from January 2011 and September 2021. He also went on to take over the role of National Development Squad Programme Manager at Wheelchair Rugby Australia from August 2021 to March 2023.

Alan worked as a laboratory tutor and unit assessor marker for Bachelor Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Technology, Sydney, from September 2021 to March 2023 before taking over as senior strength and conditioning coach for Tennis Australia at the Sydney Training Centre from November 2022 to March 2023.

While Anthony Farry takes on the role of the Indian team’s analytical coach, he is backed by a three-year stint as the assistant coach for Hockey Australia between December 2008 and 2011. He came into the limelight during his tenure as Canada Men’s Hockey Team Head Coach and High-Performance Director between August 2011 and February 2017, with Canada successfully qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games through the World League qualification system for the first time in history.

He also helped the Canada U-21 Men’s Hockey Team qualify for two consecutive editions of the Junior World Cups. Farry also went on to lead the Japan women’s hockey team as the head coach and high-performance director between February 2017 and August 2020. Under his guidance, Japan won its first gold medal in the Asian Games in 2018. Farry was named Head Coach and High-Performance Director of the USA Women’s Hockey Team from August 2020 to April 2022.