Weise words: All-conquering German coach hungry for more
UTHRA GANESAN
CHANDIGARH,
GERMAN hockey coach Markus Weise is no stranger to India, but his last memories of the country go back to 2001, when he was still an assistant coach to Bernhard Peters. Since then, he has seen much success — he progressed from being an assistant to the chief coach, led the German women’s team to gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004, repeated the feat with the men’s side in 2008 and won the elite Champions Trophy in 2007.
If that was not enough, he is the only coach to win an Olympic gold with both the men’s and women’s sides, which perhaps makes him an ideal candidate to talk about the difference in guiding the two. “There are a lot of similarities and a lot of things are very different. I know it may sound wrong but I would say that one should not work too long with women if they have to be successful,” he says, adding that there were too many emotions that needed to be handled.
A sexist statement? “Maybe, you can say that. But it’s true. I guess it depends on the kind of players you get. But in general, yes, handling women is far tougher,” he says.
Coming back to the job at hand, Weise is taking it one step at a time. “This tournament will be a new experience for every player, since none of them has ever played in India. In fact, it is a new experience for me too, since we generally start our season with a preparatory camp in March. This is a good opportunity for us to prepare for the 2010 World Cup and also the 2012 Olympics,” he says.
Having a young squad here is also an opportunity for Weise to try out his bench strength. “It raises competition among players, which is a good thing. I want to test my players, see who can push the established guys for spots. Every match is an opportunity,” he adds.
At the same time, though, he repeatedly keeps his team away from the favourites tag. ‘India favourites’ “I THINK India are the favourites, playing at home. That makes a lot of difference. I expect them to be ambitious, to go all out for it, to prove themselves.But I can’t speak of any individual player. Sandeep is very good, but that’s it. I don’t know about the others,” he says.
But surely, sitting pretty on top of the world rankings and owning all of the three most coveted trophies in the sport must be a great feeling? “Not really. For me, every Olympics cycle is a four-year period to build a new squad. And every tournament begins from zero. If we sit back on past achievements or try to play for world rankings, it doesn’t work. One has to play to win every tournament, and that is the only thing that matters at the end of that particular tournament,” he insists.
Perhaps the fact that after winning so much he still is not satisfied gives an insight into his competitive mindset.“Well, not everything. We are not the European champions yet,” he reminds with a laugh.