ROURKELA: A teary-eyed Janneke Schopman, the coach of the Indian women's hockey team, said that she didn't feel valued or supported by the sport's decision makers in the country. Across an eight-minute interaction in the mixed zone after India's Pro League encounter against the US on Sunday, the 46-year-old said: "I felt alone a lot in the last two years."
Schopman, whose tenure as head coach began after the 2021 Olympics, opened up on the everyday challenges of dealing with people within Hockey India while being a woman. "Very hard, very hard," the 46-year-old said. "Because, I come from a culture where women are respected and valued. I don’t feel that here. From not very many people – and I do feel people working here on the ground are amazing from Hockey India (HI) – but I feel it’s so hard.
"I look at the difference at how men’s coaches are treated between me and the men’s coach, or the girls and the men’s team, just in general. They never complain and they work so hard. I am not saying, I don’t know, I don’t know why and I shouldn’t speak for them so I won’t. I love them. I think they work so hard, they do what I ask, they wanna learn, wanna do new things but for me personally coming from the Netherlands, having worked in the USA, this country is extremely difficult as a woman, coming from a culture where, yeah, you can have an opinion and it’s valued. It’s really hard."
In hindsight, the Dutchwoman, who was part of the backroom staff when they finished fourth at the Tokyo Games, felt she should have walked after the 2022 Commonwealth Games. "If you asked my family, I should have left after a year. In hindsight, I should have left after the Commonwealth Games because it was too hard for me to manage.
"But I coach with full intensity and I have no regrets because I made that decision myself. Will I stay? Maybe despite the fact that I know it’s tough. Very hard to be away from my family and I choose it so no one has to feel sorry for me."
While she didn't take any names, she said a few people wouldn't even acknowledge her presence. "Even when I was the assistant coach, some people wouldn’t even look at me or wouldn’t acknowledge me or wouldn’t respond and then you become the chief coach and all of a sudden, people are interested in you. I struggled a lot with that. That is one thing. Like I said, Elena Norman (HI CEO) has been very, very supportive always and she’s kept me in this position." She also said that Dilip Tirkey, the current HI president, supported her.
The hardest bit for Schopman, though, was having this feeling that people even within HI not taking her seriously. "The fact that I feel — I don't even know if it's true — that I'm not taken seriously," she said.
When asked if she has seen the men's team get preferential treatment, she said: "I don't know. I just know that when the World Cup didn't go well for the men's team, all focus was on them. Since February 2023, all the focus was on the men's team."
While Schopman is undecided on staying on as coach — "I don't know is the honest answer," is what she said — the main thing, according to her, is what the players think. "I'm going to reflect, 'did I do a good enough job, yes or no?'. I need to ask that myself.
"I have spoken to the players a little. I appreciate their opinion. They are the ones in charge. I think they need to want me to be there, that's the first decision. Also, I need to want to be there. Hockey India needs to want me to be there. At this point, I must say Dilip Tirkey has been very very supportive since the Asian Games and that, I have appreciated a lot. It's been tough for me, the team. I must say the support I haven't felt a lot in the last year so his support means a lot."
It's not yet known whether HI, which is scheduled to have a meeting in the next day or two, will retain her. Her role came under some scrutiny after India lost out on qualifying for the Olympics twice (at the Asian Games and an Olympic qualifier at home) in five months.
"After the Olympic qualifier, we knew that the Pro League was happening really fast," she said. "I think everyone, including myself, struggled a lot, also being back in Bhubaneswar, for the first week (of the Pro League) because it hurts too much. I think now it's a little bit less but still we will carry it around (the hurt). I think the next five days I finally have a breather because, to be fair, the girls and myself, we haven't had any time off. I think it's been six months which is too much." If Schopman stays on, one can only hope for the situation to change.