Hockey runs in my genes, says India coach Fulton's son Jake

Chennai, Dec 5 (PTI) Hockey runs in Jake Fulton's genes, as his father Craig and mother Natalie represented South Africa in the Olympics, and he aspires to emulate the feat but for his adopted country Ireland.

The senior Fulton, currently the chief coach of Indian men's hockey team, had represented South Africa at the 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics, while Natalie was part of the women's squad at the 2002 World Cup and the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Craig and Natalie were in fact the first married couple to represent South Africa at the same Olympic Games in 2004, and it did not come as a surprise when Jake first picked up the hockey stick at a tender age of two.

"Hockey definitely came from genes. I started hockey at a pretty young age. Father, mother both played hockey their whole lives, so it just had a big impact on me. That always helped but I love the sport," Jake, who is representing Ireland in the ongoing FIH Junior World Cup, told PTI.

Jake idolises his father but doesn't really get much personal time and their conversations are mostly over phone as he is based in Ireland.

Jake's father was the assistant coach of the Ireland men's team, alongside his role as a player-coach for the Irish Hockey League side Pembroke Wanderers, when he was born in 2008.

"I moved into Ireland at such a young age, trained there and I couldn't really go back to South Africa and train there. So I continued to play for Ireland," he said.

"I haven't really thought about it much, still playing for Ireland, so I presume I will be playing for Ireland and play at the Olympics." "But, to be honest, I haven't really thought about my future much at the young age of 16, still lot of years to go. I am still in school," he added.

By his own admission, Jake, one of the youngest players in the tournament, missed his father here as the senior Fulton was away in Malaysia with the Indian team for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

"Obviously I miss him here, he is my father, my inspiration, a big part of my life. It's just unlucky to be honest how the calendar goes," he said.

Though their discussion mainly centres around hockey, Jake didn't take much tips from his father about how to play on Indian grounds, and it was mainly about how to handle the big crowds here.

"We talk about hockey but not really about playing grounds. Obviously the crowd, he told me about the crowd, he told how loud they are, how passionate they are about hockey, really nice people other than that not really much talks," said Jake, who was here in Chennai in 2023 during the Asian Champions Trophy, which India won under his father's guidance. PTI SSC SSC AH AH