India hockey coach Marjine finds author inside during lockdown

India women’s hockey team coach Sjoerd Marijne has resorted to Bollywood biopics and finding his inner writer to keep himself motivated during the nationwide lockdown.

While athletes across the world struggle to stay in confinement with little to no training accessible, life has been tougher for Indian hockey players who have been stuck inside the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru throughout the period.

However, while the India hockey players could do training during India’s previous 21-day lockdown, the second and more intensified precautionary measure has now restricted the hockey pitches and the gymnasium.

With more time available indoors in the 81-acre facility, the players have been expanding their options, over and above the game analysis and the little training they can do, to pass the time

"We also watch motivational movies like Mary Kom and Dangal," Sjoerd Marijne told the Press Trust of India.

Marjine the author

Sjoerd Marijne, who had taken the difficult decision of staying with the Indian team rather than travelling home to the Netherlands, has also found a new hobby to keep himself as well.

“Like everyone else, I have my difficult moments, not being with my family. I try to keep myself as busy as possible. I am writing a book in the free time I have,” Sjoerd Marijne added.

“I have been in India for three and half years and many interesting stuff happened which can be very helpful for coaches and in business life,” he explained the purpose of his book.

While the women’s coach has delved his hand in becoming an author, the Indian hockey men’s team coach Graham Reid has been using this time to rekindle his hobby for photography.

“I enjoy playing around with photographs. I have taken enough pictures in the last 12 months here in India to keep myself busy in lockdown,” Graham Reid told the Times of India. “The people, the wildlife (in) India is fantastic.”

FIFA and Call of Duty for the captain

Indian hockey men’s team captain Manpreet Singh, however, has been cycling through a series of choices available inside the facility to see off the difficult period.

“To keep myself engaged during the free time, I enjoy playing FIFA and Call of Duty (CoD) video games on my PlayStation and we end up listening to a lot of music,” Manpreet Singh opened up to the Hindustan Times. “I have also been watching Netflix, where these days I am watching The Blacklist.”.

Indian hockey team striker Mandeep Singh has found a more fruitful way to spend his time.

Apart from his training, the athlete is devoting time to watching short clips and reading to improve his English and communication skills.

“We have started to read more, which is the best thing to do now. I have picked some good books and joined the distance communications class of Heide (wife of team analyst Chris Ciriello), who is a teacher in Australia.” Mandeep Singh told the Times of India.