NEW DELHI: India girls’s hockey group chief coach Sjoerd Marijne has defended his choice to take depart shortly earlier than the FIH World Cup, insisting his absence didn’t compromise the group’s preparations and that he remained intently concerned within the build-up to the match.Marijne’s choice to take depart earlier than the World Cup had come underneath scrutiny in a bit of the media, with legendary former India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh questioning whether or not a group may carry out at its finest when its chief coach was away throughout the last part of preparation.India finally completed fifth on the World Cup, placing collectively a creditable marketing campaign after getting into the match with a number of challenges, together with accidents.Marijne, nonetheless, mentioned his depart didn’t imply he was disconnected from the group or unaware of what was occurring throughout the preparation interval.“I’ve seen each coaching, match, carried out conferences and had private contact with the gamers, so it was not that I did not know what was happening,” Marijne instructed PTI in an interview after India’s World Cup marketing campaign.“Folks do not at all times know the actual story and that is nice so long as we all know what we have now carried out and we coated every little thing. In addition to this additionally the employees which was there and helped them to organize for the World Cup,” he mentioned.
Marijne needs India to maintain elevating the bar
Marijne, who returned for his second stint as India’s coach in January, mentioned the fifth-place end shouldn’t turn out to be the ceiling for the group. As an alternative, he needs the gamers to retain the starvation that helped them rework from an injury-hit facet right into a aggressive World Cup unit.“It has been a journey with many ups and that is what we have now to proceed, however that is solely attainable once we keep hungry and desirous to get the perfect out of ourselves and never take issues simple.“Maintain elevating the bar, and count on increasingly from the group. Rising is a every day course of and likewise staying linked with one another,” he mentioned.The Dutchman mentioned his second stint started in a different way from his first spell as a result of the present group already had expertise of taking part in in opposition to higher-ranked groups and competing at main tournaments.“It is a group which has gamers who already had performed in opposition to high-ranked groups and skilled to play massive tournaments. To start with we did not have this and these ladies additionally knew me, how I coach and put together the group. They already had shared this with the youthful ladies. This made it simpler to have a fast begin,” he mentioned.
From ‘I’ to ‘we’: Marijne’s concentrate on group id
Marijne recognized rebuilding the group’s collective id as his speedy precedence after returning to the setup.“The primary problem was to make once more a group and alter the mindset to ‘we’ as an alternative of ‘I’ and convey again self-discipline,” he mentioned.He additionally believes he returned to India as a extra mature coach after spending the intervening years working with and guiding different coaches.“I’ve been in India, I do know higher how issues are working and what works with teaching an Indian group. I’ve guided coaches the final years and that additionally helped me to mirror myself and turn out to be a greater coach,” he mentioned.The coach hopes the group’s World Cup efficiency may generate higher curiosity in girls’s hockey in India.“If I see the reactions, individuals are constructive and comply with the group. I hope we encourage younger children to additionally begin taking part in hockey,” he mentioned.
