‘Teams need constant development to keep up in modern game’

Maurits Hendriks is a much-travelled man. He was an advisor to the short-lived but hugely successful Premier Hockey League in India, besides leading the Spanish men’s team to the 2003 Champions Challenge, the 2004 Champions Trophy, and the 2005 European Nations Cup, after starting his international career with an Olympic gold for the Dutch in 2000. He’s also been involved with coaching in Korea.

So when he says that a coach alone cannot do wonders for a team, one has to listen. “It is good that the Asian teams, especially from the subcontinent, are opening their doors to the rest of the world, to bring in European experience. Having said that, there can be no great change in a team or its performance unless the structure and administration of the game changes in a country,” he says when asked about the impact of foreign coaches across the world. At the same time, he adds, things have not really changed much here. “What we have to understand is that the whole dynamics of modern sports is constant development. There are so many developments happening all the time — the green card, for example, resulting in suspension, or penalising a defender for offence during penalty corners. It is important to keep pace with the developments, but that, unfortunately is not happening,” he told The Indian Express.

Hendriks also said that Brasa’s presence would be good for Indian hockey. “ Brasa was one of the club coaches in Spain when I was the national coach. He is very experienced and still very passionate about the game,” he said. “The life of a coach is very short: results tell the whole story. But I think one year is too short a time for anyone to make a difference to any team; but two years is long enough to at least start making a difference.”

The current technical director of the Dutch Olympic Committee, however, is not too involved with hockey anymore. “I am out of hockey, I have to look after about 52 sports federations in Holland now,” he says. He is also detached from the Spanish team. And to second that, he says he hasn’t seen the team play for a while now —- since the 2008 Olympics final, to be precise. “I am not in touch with any of them since I left,” he says simply.

Watching the Spanish team win against England in the World Cup here — it was also England’s only defeat so far in the tournament — Hendriks was not a very happy man. “I am happy with the result but at the same time, I am disappointed. Spain still have the class to be in the top four and it is sad that they are out of reckoning for a medal. But honestly, I was not too impressed with England today; I expected a lot more,” he said.

On current form, he rates Australia as favourites for the World Cup. “They are playing at a different level,” he signs off.