CHENNAI: When Sjoerd Marijne returned as the head coach of the senior Indian women's hockey team earlier this year for the second time, not everything was pleasant on and off the court. The previous year, the team were relegated from the Pro League. Additionally, the team was plagued with injuries. Off the field, the team's previous coach Harendra Singh resigned after players alleged 'mental harassment and outdated methods of training.' Marijne had his task cut ahead of a crucial year.
Five months into his second-stint as head coach, the Dutchman has guided his team past some choppy waters. After sealing qualification to the World Cup in Hyderabad in March, India defeated World No 2 Argentina twice in their four-match tour last month in Buenos Aires.
“When I came on the 11th of January, the first step was to get rid of a lot of injuries," he said in a virtual interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India. "Qualification for the World Cup was important. So there was no time for development and working on fitness. It was to manage the load. After that, we had a really good tour in Argentina, where we could work on what is the benchmark for international hockey. We had a small time to work on our fitness, but setting the benchmark was very important. The girls needed to know what we expect from them."
However, bigger challenges await them, in the form of the World Cup in Netherlands and Belgium and the Asian Games in Japan later this year. In a bid to prepare for those tournaments, Salima Tete and Co will travel Down Under, where they will feature in a four-match bilateral series against Australia next week, before the FIH Nations Cup in New Zealand next month. The squad for the same will be announced on Monday.
“Australia play a different style than Argentina. They play more in the zone. It will be good to see what playing against that country brings and also, what has been done with our fitness. But we will not only play the matches, we will have strength training, but also hockey-wise training sessions. And from there on, we move to the FIH Nations Cup in New Zealand,” he said, adding that these tournaments act as ‘small steps’ in their preparations for the Asian Games.
He also explained how they are going to identify aspects to improve in matches like these. "We are focussing on a few topics where we want to do really well. You are not going to create better fitness in one or two months. It needs more time. If you do it in a short time, the chance of injuries is much bigger. So that's what we want to avoid. After the Nations Cup, we have a month to prepare in India. Then, we go to Germany to play matches and then to the Netherlands, where we play the World Cup. All these tournaments, all these matches will help to identify where we need to improve and how we can cope with the level of the opponents,” he said. Marijne, from the expectations he sets of the team, can be termed as a disciplinarian. He said he expects consistency from his team, if they are to stand a chance in these tough sets of matches. “The main thing I want to achieve in this tour in the Nations Cup is that our good habits continue. It is not sprinting one or two times. We need to do it every time. If we get more continuity and consistency in our games, our level goes much higher which is important,” he said.
That way, the tour to Australia will be crucial for the coach to identify a set of players who can do well at the highest level. For the players, it is an opportunity to prove their worth.