Hockey coach Sjoerd Marijne's parting message - Organise a women's hockey league in India
The coach mentioned that the women's team can only progress if they play more competitive matches in India
After guiding the Indian women's hockey team to their best-ever performance at the Olympics, coach Sjoerd Marijne has decided to quit. The Dutch coach led the team to a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and before he left he had a suggestion.
"The men's have the FIH Pro League, HIL (Hockey India League), and other tournaments in India. We could have the same for us (women). Without this, we have achieved so much. With the matches, we can achieve so much more. I am emphasizing this because it is a proven method," he stated to the media after India's Olympic campaign came to an end.
India started their campaign poorly and lost their first three matches to Netherlands, Germany, and Great Britain. He directed some strict words towards the girls after the losses and that might have worked in the turnaround in the match against Ireland.
"After the game with Great Britain, I was extremely angry with the team. You have to give your best and at this moment that you are not doing. If you have to go under, then at least do that after trying. In the first matches, we were not simply not giving our best. I told the girls that it was not good enough and if I am angry they know it's serious. They found the key for the next matches themselves. I showed them a movie about being in the moment. That might have really helped them. The match against Ireland was a turnaround point for us. They started working with more belief."
The team had a wonderful run thereafter and beat Australia in the quarterfinals which set them up for a semifinal. However, they were beaten by Argentina in the last-four fixture.
"After the semifinal loss, I said what we had two chances and now we have one. We were busy improving and not winning a medal. I have worked that way throughout and by doing that you keep your goals short. We wanted to keep it easy. Before the match today I told them to give everything on the pitch. Today, we showed the spirit but today was not our day.
The tactician believes that after this performance the heavyweights will start taking India more seriously and show more respect.
"If we had told a no.10 team two years ago that they can win a medal they would not believe. But they believed in winning a medal. We came close and believing in itself makes me very proud. Each story is special. In the Netherlands, we do not have these kinds of stories. These stories inspire generations and people to pick up the sport, which sport doesn't matter actually."
When queried if he said anything special to the girls before the bronze medal playoff he said," I just told them to be the moment. We have worked for a long long time. Just be busy with your task. If you are busy with your task then you don't have time for thinking about winning or losing. It can only make you nervous. Be in the present and they did really well. So nothing special I said to them about the medal match."
The girls were seen absolutely distraught after losing out on the bronze medal to Great Britain but Marijne believes that with time they would understand the enormity of their achievement.
"If we had told a No.10 team two years ago that they can win a medal they would not believe. But they believed in winning a medal. We came close and believing in itself makes me very proud. They are still emotional. With time they will realise that it's not that bad what we did. A few years ago, they would not have thought about this. And now they are disappointed. That tells a lot about the girls," he signed off.