Rhett Halkett, Aaln Tan named support staff for new India coach Craig Fulton
Exactly a month after announcing Craig Fulton as the new chief coach of the Indian men’s team, Hockey India (HI) on Friday announced that Rhett Halkett and Alan Tan will join in as the South African’s support staff. While Halkett will be the analytical coach, Tan has been named as the scientific advisor.
The decision follows the resignation of chief coach Graham Reid, analytical coach Gregg Clark and scientific advisor Mitchell Pemberton in the wake of India’s dismal show at the World Cup in January where they finished joint ninth in Odisha – the worst show by a host nation at the quadrennial event.
Like Fulton, Halkett is also a former South Africa international who played 155 internationals between 2010 and 2018. In 2020, he joined the Netherlands women's team as an assistant coach where he guided the team during the Pro League, European Championships and Tokyo Olympics during his one-year tenure. Last year, Halkett took over as assistant coach for the Scotland men's team and also led Scotland U-21 as the head coach.
Tan, on the other hand, comes with over 10 years of experience working as strength and conditioning coach at the NSW Institute of Sport from January 2011 to 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.
He also 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.
Women’s team support staff
Meanwhile, HI has also announced that former Japan women's team head coach Anthony Farry will fill in the position of analytical coach of the Indian women's team. Farry had a three-year stint as assistant coach for Hockey ACT and Hockey Australia between December 2008 and 2011. He came into the limelight during his tenure as Canada men's head coach and high-performance director between August 2011 and February 2017 when Canada qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics for the first time.
Farry also helped Canada U-21 men qualify for two consecutive editions of the Junior World Cup and then went on to lead Japan women as head coach and high-performance director between February 2017 and August 2020. Under his guidance, Japan won their first Asian Games gold in 2018. He took over as USA women's team head coach and high-performance director from August 2020 to April 2022.
"We welcome the new coaching staff for the Indian men’s and women's teams. On behalf of HI, I thank the Sports Authority of India for processing their appointments on an immediate basis and appreciate their continued support in preparing the Indian teams for the upcoming Asian Games in China in 2023. I wish Rhett Halkett, Alan Tan and Anthony Farry the very best in their new roles," HI president Dilip Tirkey said.
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