Marijne’s masterplan: Team first, personal goals later

Somewhere between a few bites of his favourite chicken tikka with naan and screams of ldquoBhaago bhaagohellip face karohellip pass karordquo thanks to the little Hindi he has picked up from his players chief coach Sjoerd Marijne plotted the perfect resurgence of Indian womenrsquos hockeyOn Thursday night the Salima Teteled World No 9 Indian side convincingly conquered World No 5 Germany in a FIH World Cup classification match to register their bestever fifthplace finish in 52 yearsSjoerd MarijneThis after impressive draws against much higherranked opposition mdash 22 against No 4 China 00 against No 7 England and 00 against No 8 Australia mdash besides just one defeat a 02 loss to No 1 NetherlandsMarijne in his second stint as India womenrsquos coach had guided the team to another historic fourthplace finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics during his previous term Interestingly though when he took charge again in January the women were a disjointed lot Turning that around was key to this teamrsquos successldquoWhen I joined the issue with this team was that some players were focused only on individual or personal goals So the first thing I did was make the players realise that team goals have to be everyonersquos priority I explained to them that if they could achieve the teamrsquos goals their individual goals would automatically be achieved The players did this and realised for themselves that if they help each other it also benefits them as individualsrdquo Marijne 52 tells midday from the Netherlands on FridayInconsistent behaviour was another aspect Marijne tackled with a skillfully executed tomahawklike direct approach ldquoWhenever a playerrsquos behaviour was good I always made it a point to appreciate them Similarly whenever a player showed bad behaviour I made sure I addressed that with them personallyrdquo he revealsCamaraderiebuilding exercises also helped foster team unity ldquoWe go for a lot of team dinners and many times the girls themselves pick the restaurant I always encourage the team to leave the training facility and spend time together outdoors With the senior and junior players enjoying these outings equally it enhances team bondingrdquo says MarijneNext up for Marijnersquos Marauders is the Asian Games September 19 to October 4 in AichiNagoya Japan where nothing less than gold will do as that will confirm the teamrsquos tickets to America for the 2028 Los Angeles OlympicsldquoOur 22 draw with China has given us the confidence that we can win the gold medal in Japan But having said that my strategy has always been to focus on our own game rather thanthat of the opposition so we will continue to focus 90 per cent on ourselves and 10 per cent on the opponentrdquo says MarijneThe Dutchman was criticised for taking a short break in the buildup to this World Cup with former India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh questioning how a team could fare well if its chief coach was away during the final stage of preparation With a stern sharp and short statement Marijne clarifies ldquoWherever I was during that time I was in total control of everything the girls were doingrdquo11Total number of goals scored by Team India at this Hockey World Cup they conceded sixFourNo of matches out of six in which the Indian hockey team conceded one or lesser goals61Indiarsquos winning scoreline against South Africa recently mdash their biggest at a World CupOneNo of defeats for Team India in six matches mdash they won two games and drew three