KOLKATA: It was 2020 and the pandemic had just begun.Sjoerd Marijne, then the coach of the Indian women’s hockey team, was in a cab en route to Bengaluru airport, from where he was supposed to fly back to the Netherlands to join his family. But midway through the ride, he changed his mind and returned to the city’s Sports Authority of India centre.It was a difficult decision, but Marijne chose to stay. A year later, he led India to a historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics.Six years on, Marijne found himself making a very different choice. When he returned to take charge of the Indian women’s team for a second stint, he once again had to find a way to combine his commitment to the team with being there for his family. This time, with the World Cup approaching, he chose to spend a few weeks with his family before rejoining the team – a decision that had been agreed upon when he took up the job.But while Marijne was away from the team physically, he remained closely connected with its preparations. He followed every training session and practice match, stayed in touch with the players and conducted video meetings to ensure he remained on top of the process.“I saw every training session and every practice match. I saw everything. So I wasn’t there in person, but I was there,” Marijne told TOI in an exclusive interview after India recorded their best World Cup finish in 52 years. “I had contact with the players and did video meetings with them, so I was on top of the process.”Marijne also credited his support staff, as well as the team’s strength and conditioning staff, for giving him the confidence that the team was in good hands. “I had very good assistants like Matias Villa. Tim White, who is doing the under-21s, was also there. So, I knew they were in good hands,” he said. “There’s a lot of leadership in the team and they knew that they had to do well and give the example, so that’s why this was possible.“When Marijne re-joined, he found the squad had continued along the same path. “It was all the same. For the girls, it also felt like I hadn’t been away. So that is a positive thing,” he said.The Dutchman also stressed that while he was away physically, he had never stepped away from his responsibilities as coach. “It wasn’t that for a few weeks I wasn’t there mentally. I was only not physically there,” he said.For Marijne, the experience also highlighted the growing maturity within the group. The players were able to take responsibility, lean on the senior members and stay true to the team’s structure and culture even with their coach away from the training ground.“The players knew that I was overseeing everything,” he said. “The main thing is that it looked like I was away. I was away physically, but for the players it didn’t feel like I was away because I was still involved.”Perhaps that was the biggest reassurance for Marijne – that the team had developed enough trust and leadership to keep moving in the same direction, even when he wasn’t physically there.
