Mumbai, For 'King of Sevens' Waisale Serevi, who knew very little about India before embarking on the challenge of bringing about a change in the rugby landscape in the country, the main objective is to raise awareness about the sport.
Hall of Famer Serevi, 56, has taken over as head coach of India's men's and women's rugby sevens teams, a format he championed in terms of its inclusion in the Olympics.
"For me, I don't normally follow rugby on this side of the world, in Asia. But I have seen teams playing rugby on this side of the world," Serevi said in an exclusive interaction.
"Yes, rugby in India is something that maybe five per cent of the population knows about - that's exactly what we're trying to build at the moment - we're trying to raise awareness about rugby," he said.
Serevi added: "You can't go to the number 12 (point) when you forget the number 2, 3, 4, 5. The most important thing for me is to raise awareness in rugby. The result will come anyway. Every great event starts with one thing small," he said.
While he did not have any experience in India before arriving here, Serevi was quick to determine the talent that already exists in the national teams, but he also emphasized reaching out to the untapped.
"Both in terms of the men's and women's team. The coaches have done a very good job. I've seen a couple of good teams. I've seen forwards, great forwards. I've seen backs, halfbacks. In all positions on the rugby field, I they have here," he said.
"I'm excited to have them in camp and then try to help them understand the game, help them play the type of rugby I want them to play in other competitions," Serevi said.
And he added: "We have the players that are needed in each position, like the forwards, as we call it in rugby, the forwards and the backs. We have wingers who are fast players."
"We have centers that are creating space for the wingers. We have the midfielders with the connection between the forwards and the backs and we have some forwards, pretty big guys," he added.
Serevi, who was a player and coach of the Fiji team that reached the World Series final in 2005-06, said many people would have been surprised that he took over as Indian coach after stints in Russia, the United States and Jamaica. .
"A lot of people in the world are surprised that I'm in India. But like I said, I'm very excited for this opportunity to try to help, give a hand to the country that needs help, the Indian rugby. Programme," he said.
Coaching the men's and women's national teams could be difficult in terms of workload, but Serevi is clear about how he would fare.
"The good thing is that we already have HPU, which is the high performance (center) and we have assistant coaches that are here that will take care of the team. It's not just me," he said.
"We have two young South African coaches who have been here for the last few years. They have been doing a great job. They have been traveling and coaching a couple of teams here who have won the National and Sevens tournaments here," Serevi said.
For Serevi, one of the tasks will also be to find new players for Indian rugby.
"There are players out there that are not recognized. There may be players out there, still out there, raw talent in the states. The main thing for me now is to try to observe the players we have, train them. that we have," he said .
"Another step forward is to try to go to states, other states, to do an under-18 rugby camp. Maybe we'll go down to under-14s, under-18s and then elite men and women (9:07) and invite to an open camp so we can see other players who are not selected," he added.
Hall of Famer Serevi, 56, has taken over as head coach of India's men's and women's rugby sevens teams, a format he championed in terms of its inclusion in the Olympics.
"For me, I don't normally follow rugby on this side of the world, in Asia. But I have seen teams playing rugby on this side of the world," Serevi said in an exclusive interaction.
"Yes, rugby in India is something that maybe five per cent of the population knows about - that's exactly what we're trying to build at the moment - we're trying to raise awareness about rugby," he said.
Serevi added: "You can't go to the number 12 (point) when you forget the number 2, 3, 4, 5. The most important thing for me is to raise awareness in rugby. The result will come anyway. Every great event starts with one thing small," he said.
While he did not have any experience in India before arriving here, Serevi was quick to determine the talent that already exists in the national teams, but he also emphasized reaching out to the untapped.
"Both in terms of the men's and women's team. The coaches have done a very good job. I've seen a couple of good teams. I've seen forwards, great forwards. I've seen backs, halfbacks. In all positions on the rugby field, I they have here," he said.
"I'm excited to have them in camp and then try to help them understand the game, help them play the type of rugby I want them to play in other competitions," Serevi said.
And he added: "We have the players that are needed in each position, like the forwards, as we call it in rugby, the forwards and the backs. We have wingers who are fast players."
"We have centers that are creating space for the wingers. We have the midfielders with the connection between the forwards and the backs and we have some forwards, pretty big guys," he added.
Serevi, who was a player and coach of the Fiji team that reached the World Series final in 2005-06, said many people would have been surprised that he took over as Indian coach after stints in Russia, the United States and Jamaica. .
"A lot of people in the world are surprised that I'm in India. But like I said, I'm very excited for this opportunity to try to help, give a hand to the country that needs help, the Indian rugby. Programme," he said.
Coaching the men's and women's national teams could be difficult in terms of workload, but Serevi is clear about how he would fare.
"The good thing is that we already have HPU, which is the high performance (center) and we have assistant coaches that are here that will take care of the team. It's not just me," he said.
"We have two young South African coaches who have been here for the last few years. They have been doing a great job. They have been traveling and coaching a couple of teams here who have won the National and Sevens tournaments here," Serevi said.
For Serevi, one of the tasks will also be to find new players for Indian rugby.
"There are players out there that are not recognized. There may be players out there, still out there, raw talent in the states. The main thing for me now is to try to observe the players we have, train them. that we have," he said .
"Another step forward is to try to go to states, other states, to do an under-18 rugby camp. Maybe we'll go down to under-14s, under-18s and then elite men and women (9:07) and invite to an open camp so we can see other players who are not selected," he added.
