Dr. Harminder Paul Singh

Wednesday, 16. December 2009 - Harmit Singh Kamboe

Dr. Harminder Paul Singh is a Co-owner of the Carolina RailHawks, who play in the USL (United Soccer Leagues) Division 1.

Our Harmit Kamboe had a chance to speak to him about his own interest in football, his USL team and the help he can offer Indian football.


Harmit: Please tell us about yourself and your family? Where were you born, where did you grow up and was sports (especially football) a part of your life growing up? How did you end up in Carolina?

Dr. H.P. Singh: Our family is originally from Burma. In the early 1900 my great-grandfather originally from Sialkot, Pakistan migrated to Burma. We lived there for three generations till all Indian origin people had to leave in the 1960's. We settled in Ranchi and I went to St. Xavier School from 1970 to 1980. In 1980 my parent migrated to USA.
I did all my schooling in Dallas, Texas USA. The state of Texas had made lots of money after the oil embargo in 1973. They invested in school, universities. Education was the cheapest in country and so we all moved in there.

In late 1970's we were around 10 Indian Punjabi families. Today the Indian population reaches around 250,000. I did my undergrad in biosciences and some minor in theatre arts. After finishing my BS, I went to Texas Tech School of medicine. After finishing my fellowship I have been in practice in Raleigh, North Carolina. For a short stint I was on teaching service of UNC Chapell Hill at Wake Med Centre.

I played some soccer at North Texas State, Denton Texas where I had gone for my undergrad but I have played all through my life and still play in 40 plus league locally.


Harmit: Was becoming a Doctor something you had set your eyes on when you were young or did you harbour any sporting ambitions as a youngster?

Dr. H.P. Singh: Education has been a big priority in our family. We come from a family of doctors, engineers, lawyers, investment bankers, developers. My family was initially in construction business in Burma. My brother after finishing law school went into commercial real estate development and runs one of the largest companies in North Carolina--- Soleil-group.

As a new immigrant in this country our focus was mostly on getting an education. I had always loved playing soccer since I was five and continued doing so in some form or other in the US  But as to going professional was never in my sight, not that I did not think about it, and  never pursued it.

Above all soccer today is a different scene and it about to take off. I see lot of similarities in Indian football scene with reorganization -something I could help my Indian counterpart with vast knowledge that I have accumulated.

The 5 year old today in US will be definitely getting million dollar contract when he or she turns pro.


Harmit: How and when did your ownership at the Carolina Railhawks come about? Were you looking for investment in the sports space?

Dr. H.P. Singh: Initially, the Railhawks was brought in by a consortium compromising owners of the Rochester Rhinos. Due to some unavoidable circumstances it was taken over by Selby Wellman ex-CEO of Cisco and a good friend of mine. I joined the ownership with him as it brought me back into the soccer world-something that I had always cherished since I was a kid. Later Bob Young ex-CEO/Owner REDHAT owner of Canadian football league Ticats joined us also.

This was more of a challenge rather than an investment. I loved this game and if we could take this sport higher it would mean a lot to me.


Harmit: Please tell us a little about the Carolina RailHawks? Have they been a contender for the USL title? Where do they play and how long does their season last?

Dr. H.P. Singh: The state of North Carolina was settled when the rail line came in the 1800's and the Hawks is our state bird. So the fans proposed RailHawks and it was voted overwhelmingly by our fans.

There are 2 division one leagues in the USA. MLS which is 3 million and above population cities and USL which is in a million (population) or below metros. On the field we are as good as or better than the MLS.

We play at WakeMed Soccer Park or formerly SAS Soccer stadium. It is actually one of the best pitches in the country. We occasionally have USSF sponsored games also.

A stadium picture picture can be seen at this link - http://carolinarailhawks.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=115&Itemid=101

This year we were second in our league climbed up 6 places from 2008. We lost to Vancouver in the Playoffs. Overall we have an excellent team. We were favourites this year but in football it is hard to predict.


Harmit: Are the players mostly semi-professionals? What do they do in the off-season?

Dr. H.P. Singh: All players are professionals. We can have up to six foreigners on our team. We have players from all over the world. You can see that on Wikipedia.

In the off season some play indoor soccer and some go back to youth coaching. There is a plan in our new league format to go to the FIFA schedule.
The season starts in February with training, preseason and exhibition games.  April to October is league games, US Open /Hunt Cup. Generally players take December/January off to be with family. Then they are back in February.


Harmit: How involved are you on a day to day basis in the operations of the club? What kind of a role do you play in the running of the club?

Dr. H.P. Singh: We have a whole team of physicians including cardiologists, orthopaedic/sport medicine specialists, athletic trainers, physiotherapists, massage therapists. We run the strength, conditioning and nutrition support services. We have pre-season, during season, post-season nutrition. We do pre-game and post-game recovery classes.

We have pre-season testing Vo2 vo2 peak, strength, jumps runs aerobic, anaerobic capacities, etc in pre-season camps. We manage fluids during games day depending on humidity and seasonal changes. We teach the players good nutritional habits and monitor game day and post practice meals.

All this has helped prevent injuries which can sometimes devastate the players as well our strategic game plans. Soccer/football has changed a lot. The conditioning requirements have changed. It is more fast-paced and at anytime 7-8 players are doing offence or playing defence. Today 10% of all goal scored are by defenders.

I coordinate all these activities in team work fashion.

We also do lot of injury prevention drills. Luckily we did no have major injuries other than few broken bones or muscle pulls this season.

Occasionally we work on their biomechanics, running, shoes, etc. Lot of the techniques have to be learnt by age 12 otherwise you will never get it right. That is one area if you did not learn the right way by age 14 you will never learn.

Some studies show that from age 6 you need to play at least 8000 to 10,000 hours of soccer to develop into professional player. That is one area if you did not learn the right way by age 14 you will never learn. It predisposes to injuries when you turn professional

Going from Raleigh to Vancouver to play is like 2 to 3 thousand miles. Flying takes a big toll on players, and then they have to came back and get ready for home games. Soccer is continuing to grow. Eventually we will have enough professional teams all over the country where they can be broken down to east and west conferences. Most people do not realize the vastness of the USA.

Finally I do sit with our owners' administration meeting and plan budgets, etc with strategic marketing plans.


Harmit: What is the turn-out at the home games of the Carolina RailHawks? How does the club advertise its games and what kind of activities does it undertake to build and nurture its fan base?

Dr. H.P. Singh: The turnout varies. Our fan base are 6-16 year old kids. Luckily girl soccer is very big in the USA. So we do get lots of young female crowd. But all these kids have to be driven to game and occasionally their parents are not willing. It is just a matter of time when the crowd can drive and be at our games we do complete with American football and basketball leagues (professional and college) which sometime draws away our crowd.

College sports are huge in USA. When we play exhibition games with Mexican or Central America teams we generally sell out. Occasionally heavy rain will also kill the crowd. The stadium is partially covered. So we have lots of issues, but slowly we are building a fan base and will continue to expand the infrastructure.

Montreal, Vancouver, Portland sell-out due to their large immigrant population. We average 3,000-5,000 per game.

We are a completely internet based marketing club, Twitter, Facebook, our club site, large volume email are some of our main marketing tactics. Slowly we are progressing into web 2.0 marketing which can be discussion of its own.

We are connected to all youth programs. We sponsor the Mexican American youth club here.
We a have loyalty card for kids in youth program.

We run camps and recently have started RailHawk soccer institute to help the local clubs. We do corporate nights for employees, etc like IBM, SAS, and etc night out.

We invite our local city and state politicians, council members, Mayors etc. The Town of Cary is very supportive and we do run soccer camps in summer with them.


Harmit: Have you followed football in India much?  Are there any thoughts on Indian football you would like to share with our readers?

Dr. H.P. Singh: I vaguely remember Indian football but with recent availability of Indian TV channels on satellite I have been following some of the I league games.

First and foremost pitches need to improve. On a beautiful pitch with average game - it still looks good. The pitches are water clogged and uneven. You cannot have an entertaining game. We have spent $ 4 million on our soccer field -most of the expense is in draining the field. It can rain all day yet the pitch looks like it has been sprinkled with water mist. The science is available and Indians need to use it. Above all it prevents injuries.

I do see players who can play 90 minute but they lack midfield coordination, defending is poor, surprisingly nobody jumps to get high balls, and generally offence is limited to 1-2 players. There are a lot of long passes and very limited possession. Like I said before it is almost 7 people defending and 7 people playing offence. There are lot of misses in the box. I think with right kind of coaching and mindset India can play good international soccer.

US soccer is physical and has a lot of acceleration. We have a problem with deceleration and tactical plays. We overcompensate with our physique. Kids here grow up watching WWF and American Football and hence lot of emphasis is placed on strength rather than on tactical plays, trickery set plays, etc. I do see younger kids here playing lot of soccer getting better and it is matter of time that US will start to produce world class soccer players.


Harmit: Have you thought of or explored any potential participation in football in India?

Dr. H.P. Singh: I would definitely like to take our teams to visit India and play there. After being involved with division 1 soccer and knowing this game since childhood I can say that now at age 45 I am somewhat of an expert. I have volumes of information that I can share with our Indian counterparts.


Harmit: What in your opinion is holding back football in India? Why is it that even semi-professional teams overseas are at par or better than many top flight Indian football teams?

Dr. H.P. Singh: First of all football needs to be organized well. We are going through similar problems here. The I-league needs to be separated from the AIFF. The AIFF should be looking after national women and men's teams and administering the I-League and not be involved in running the league The I-League should be owned by the team owners. It should have a commissioner and marketing team. It should be properly funded and should be negotiating a as group for marketing sponsorship/TV rights, etc.

Then individual teams/clubs need to have a local agenda. FIFA can help guide this process completely.

The AIFF should have large sponsorship pool. They should start funding academies.
After extensive research in South American and European styles to have strong youth program you need the following principles.
The basic principle of soccer - rhythm creates motion, motion creates space, space creates passes, passes creates opportunities, opportunities creates goal.

Hence all the steps have now to be taken to the field and put into practice. Cultures which can dance can produce good soccer players, because they have rhythm. Hence large number of teams are from Goa.
Each of these can extrapolated into scientific development process -this may not be the right platform for discussion.

When I see the I-League games I do see a lot of talent. Most of Indian style is a lot of athleticism, run with ball and lob the ball. Rarely do I see a controlling midfield. I see strikers running with ball at `50 yard. Those are rare type of goal. Each opportunity has to be built into goal.

You need speed, vision - where are my other eight players of the field, deceleration slowing down, and possession of balls. Most of soccer is played in geometric fashion and not linear. Look at any of top team of world-there are always four players within 5-10 yard of the ball offensively or defensively. Again we can discuss this on different platform


Harmit: There seems to be some controversy around the future of the USL under the new ownership (after the exit of Nike)? Where do you see USL headed?

Dr. H.P. Singh: As you know all the USL 1 teams have formed the NASL (North American Soccer league), the old league in which Pele, Beckenbauer, etc played in late-70's. We have revived that league and plan to move forward.

I think the Indian league can learn a lot from us since we are doing the same thing.

I can give lot of information if the Indian federation and the I-League needs help.

Remember cricket was an upper middle class and rich people game in 60 and 70's when we were growing up in India. As soon as the popularity got it into the middle class, it took of in India.

Football on the other hand in India is perceived as poor man game-key here is to get the middle class and rich involved and it will take off. This is something I can help the Indian federation with.


Harmit: Were you aware of www.indianfootball.com prior to this interview?

Dr. H.P. Singh: I only found out this year after I started watching Indian football on Zee Sports.


Harmit: Many thanks for sparing your time for this interview!