Bangladesh national hockey team officially began its first training session on Saturday under newly appointed German coach Peter Gerhardt.

On the first day of training, head coach Gerhardt presented a bold and strong plan to change the team's strategy and follow the European style of play in view of the upcoming Asian Games. He acknowledged the limited time of only four to five weeks to achieve the goal. Although he termed this goal as "Mission Impossible", he expressed his determination to successfully complete it, saying, "We will make this impossible possible."

Gerhardt placed special emphasis on the European experience. He cited several successful examples from the past and present in support of this. In 2012, Argentina took their entire team to Germany and played matches against teams from the German, Dutch and Spanish leagues there. As a result, they won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Currently, strong teams like South Africa, New Zealand and Australia are conducting their players' development and training camps directly in Europe. Traditional teams in Asia are currently struggling due to the changing pace and style of modern hockey. Realizing this reality, countries like South Korea and Malaysia are already sending their best players to play in various clubs in Germany and Europe. Strategy of the German camp To bridge this strategic gap with European hockey, the Bangladesh national hockey team will hold a very intensive and long-term training camp in Germany. A busy schedule has been set for the tour to ensure the players' rapid development.

The Bangladesh team will get the opportunity to play matches against top teams in Europe. In the last part of this training camp, the team will have to play against the current German champion club. Coach Peter Gerhard said, "The style of play in Europe is completely different. My goal is to bring this European style to the team. If we can master it, other Asian teams will have a lot of trouble against us in the Asian Games. The equation is very simple."

The Bangladesh Hockey Federation seeks the cooperation of all the country's supporters and media in this very important and rapid journey of continental success for the national hockey team.