New Indian Express: Minding the gap
By Swaroop Swaminathan
BHUBANESWAR: Sjoerd Marijne, the chief coach of the men’s hockey team, is a three-dimensional man. He is not just a hockey coach. Among a lot of other things — including being part of a sports leadership programme at Nyenrode Sports Inc (a branch of Nyenrode Business Universiteit) — he also moonlights as a motivational speaker.
The why behind that is fascinating. “I was a tennis player in Netherlands,” he said. “I was good but nobody helped me on the mental side. Eventually, I didn’t make it big because no one was there to guide me through my struggles.”
Marijne lacked an adequate support system, so he left the game just after he turned 18. He joined Hockey Club ‘s-Hertogenbosch. However, something was always bothering him as he kept going back to the lack of a support system. So, he decided to become one. “I discovered while playing tennis that I wasn’t able to control my emotions,” the 43-year-old said. “I also felt a lot of pressure but I couldn’t control that either. So I began reading a lot of books about controlling the mind, and that’s what I have taken to this job from my tennis background.”
During the conversation, one thing stands out: the importance of being able to control the mind while playing elite sports. Marijne explained this further. “At this level (of hockey), it’s not about stopping the ball or pushing it correctly. It’s about doing it at the right moment. That is why the mental (aspect of the game) is king.”
While there isn’t a metric to accurately measure the mental capabilities of a player, the Dutch coach says a player’s skillset is directly linked to it.
“All the players who have assembled here are skilful,” he says. “But why is one player more that the other? One of the factors that go into determining that is mental state.”
It goes without saying that the Indian team has been getting motivational sessions — both as a group and individually — since Marijne took charge in September. He is also interested in knowing how the team handles pressure, even the one to win. “Can you perform constantly? Can you deal with the pressure of 9,000-10,000 people shouting ‘India, India’ at the top of their voices? The best players — such as Roger Federer — forget about that. They drown out that noise by concentrating on their own focus points instead. They eliminate the outcome of the game from their thought process. That is exactly what I want our players to do, because you cannot control the outcome.”
Marijne is happy with how they have reacted to this line of thinking, even though it’s early days. He cites the win at the Asia Cup as an obvious example. “It worked there. You can say that we played the No 12 team (World No 12 Malaysia) in the final, but there was a different kind of pressure. The pressure to win is still pressure. We implemented our own focus points and it was good.”
It certainly was. Malaysia have caused India more than a few problems in the last few years. However, in the summit clash, Marijne’s boys took a two-goal lead and held on after conceding in the 50th minute. In the past, giving away a late goal would have triggered a chain reaction of more in the conceded column.
The former India women’s team coach has only one expectation as far as the next 10 days are concerned. “They give more than 100 per cent in every match. Someone has to tell them they can do more than what they think they are capable of doing. That’s what I am doing right now.” The identity of the teams on December 10, the day of the final, will reveal whether that’s worked or not.