New Delhi, Indian junior women’s hockey coach Tim White says the country’s next generation of players needs to improve physically to match top international standards, even as senior team coach Sjoerd Marijne believes India is moving in the right direction.
White, who recently took charge after stints in Belgium and Australia, said while the talent pool in India is promising, bridging the physical gap will be critical to achieving sustained success at the highest level.
“I feel that for a group to be world-class, a country to be world-class, then physically they have to be world-class. When Belgium improved a lot, they improved a lot physically, along with other things,” White said during a virtual interaction on Friday.
“One of the things that I’ve observed already is that the group is lower physically than, say, where I was in Belgium or even working in Australia. And we are going to have to work hard to improve physically to be then able to compete with the best junior teams and have a flow of athletes who are going into the senior program.”
White, however, was encouraged by the attitude within the group, pointing out that the players are motivated and eager to learn.
“I already see enough talent. I see a very engaged group, a very motivated group, and a group who want to learn. So that’s a very good platform,” he said.
The Australian emphasised that developing a world-class team requires more than just skill, underlining the need for a structured approach to strength, conditioning, recovery and nutrition.
“So, we have to have a good physical program. We have to build up their knowledge of recovery and nutrition, all those sorts of things, which happens in any program around the world.
“But I also have to make sure that they understand that they need to train with a certain intensity. And that doesn’t happen overnight. I have to build that up. But it’s been something that I’ve already been busy with.
“And they’re starting to improve already after a few weeks. But that’ll be a big focus. It’s a challenge in India, that’s for sure,” he added.
Team is moving in right direction but finishing remains area of concern: Marijne
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Senior team chief coach Sjoerd Marijne, who recently oversaw India’s tour of Argentina, said the side is moving in the right direction but finishing remains an area of concern.
“I think we are in the right direction,” Marijne said, citing the team’s 2-2 draw against world No. 2 Argentina in the recent series.
“I’m not talking only about winning or losing because sometimes I didn’t play variations in penalty corners on purpose. We were training their kind of systems and maybe the next time when I play against Argentina, we do some things differently. But this was just to train those things and I think the progress in that made me really positive.
“For us, the most important thing was that the benchmark was set by Argentina. What is required to be able to play against number two and also be successful.”
India showed steady improvement over the course of the tour, particularly in coping with the pace and physicality of the opposition.
“In the first two matches, they did everything sprinting and we did everything running. If we want to be a top team, we need to do everything sprinting. And we did that much better in match three and four,” he said.
After losing the first two games, India staged a dramatic comeback to win the final two matches and level the series.
While he was satisfied with the gains in fitness and mental resilience, Marijne admitted finishing remains an area of concern.
“There’s always room to improve. But finishing, no, that was not good enough in the Argentina tour. But that comes because we were the average of 10 to 12 times in the circle, and that’s very difficult against Argentina,” he said.
“But we got a lot of penalty corners. And what I said with the PCs, I only did direct. We didn’t do variations. So for me, it was not only about picking the best option, I wanted to see how they deal with the pressure.
“So, scoring could be more, but it was difficult against Argentina. The mental side, I think they improved really well because they managed to cope with their level.”
Looking ahead to a packed calendar featuring the Nations Cup, World Cup and Asian Games, Marijne said the focus would be on gradual improvement while targeting peak performance at key events.
“This was the same in 2018. We had the same situation, and then we also had the Commonwealth Games. We worked from tournament to tournament.
“At the end, the Asian Games is for us the most important. But it doesn’t mean we don’t want to do well at the other tournaments. We use every tournament to see if we have improved enough,” he said.
Marijne added that exposure to high-pressure matches will be crucial in preparing the team for major events.
“I’m really happy with the matches that they have to play under pressure because that’s different than practice matches. And I can every time see how girls are reacting.
“You could see that in the semi-final we struggled, I think also with nerves. But the final, we already played better. And this information really helps us to, at the end, be good at the Asian Games and the World Cup,” he said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
