Successful hockey Olympian from The Netherlands, celebrated Author and acclaimed Coach, Jacques Brinkmann will be writing exclusive column ‘JEWELS FROM JACQUES’ for stick2hockey.com. The column will seek to provide perspective glimpse in to the global hockey, especially Dutch and India.
Elite sport can be compared to a rollercoaster: high peaks and deep valleys. Athletes of zero to hero and back. And that too time after time.
The difference between gold and a meaningless place in the rearguard is sometimes wafer thin.
Max Verstappen and Steven Kruijswijk were the victims of just one steering error. In a fraction of a second changed their status of being inviolable to ‘people of flesh and blood’, meaning ordinary.
Royal Dutch Hockey Federation Coach Max Caldas just took just a few moments to bring my son Thierry from the clouds to the ground. “You are no longer part of the Olympic hockey selection”.
It meant for Thierry the end of his Olympic dream. The European champion in the summer of 2015 will at home on the couch during the Olympic Games in Rio.
The laws of the top sport take extremely tough on him.
The largest glory in life is not falling, but always get up.
The case of blood, sweat and tears. I was proud of the way in which Thierry coped with the biggest disappointment of his career, Olympic dream came crashing down. On social media he wrote: ‘setbacks are involved, after the summer weather full bucket flames’.
My father heart cried, my sport heart cheered.
Doubt makes more dreams melt away than disappointment will ever have.
Remaining convinced of your own qualities is the key learning process in elite level sport. It is not only a question of routine. It is also learning from mistakes, adapt to where possible and with confidence to move toward new peak moments.
It does not matter whether you are car driver, cyclist or hockeyer.
The Dutch’s Olympic contingent for Rio is comprised of about 235 to 245 athletes. It’s a record. Individuals qualify, teams qualify. In team sports as hockey, handball and volleyball this means a hard competition for the final 16 players.
This was also the case for the team of Federal coach Caldas. He will have only sixteen hockey Heroes with him.
While they are on the Dutch hockey fields the last practice competitions finishing and under loud applause be waved goodbye, dozens of hockey players and with them hundreds of other athletes are already back in Tokyo 2020. They run their kilometers, lift anonymous kilos after kilos in gym, and pay attention to every bite they put in their mouths. They are at the bottom of the rollercoaster and waiting for the moment that they are featured on focused feel.
Whatever applies to athletes applies also for coaches.
Caldas was with the hockey women Olympic champion in 2012. Four years later that is now expected of him from men: Nothing less than gold. What we have to wait for the Caldas Status: Of Hero to zero.
This only time will tell.
Pic Caption: Top: Jacques Brinkmann, below his son Thierry Brinkmann