It is apparent that Sjoerd Marijne is yet to completely overcome the disappointment of being unceremoniously sacked from the post of men's hockey head coach. The Dutchman, who is now at the helm of the women's team, felt he could have been given more time to implement his plans.
The Hockey India removed Marijne following a lacklustre show at the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast, Australia, in April, where Manpreet Singh's men finished fourth. "There was a moment when I was disappointed with a few things. And I think that's quite normal, when you can't finish what you wanted to do, at least till the World Cup," he told reporters here at the Sports Authority of India, Southern Centre, on Friday.
"It was emotionally difficult. It's quite normal when you can't finish a job you wanted to finish. But I'm also not being honest to the girls if I stay in that
mood. That's why I changed really quickly. Otherwise I would have been
in Holland. That was also an option," added Marijne.
Marijne, who is back in familiar territory, said he eased into the new role. The 44-year-old previously coached the Indian women's side from February to September last year. "I didn't leave the women's team with a bad feeling. A few of them cried when I left the team. I had a very good relationship with them. So it was easy for me to come back into the team. Now we have to look
at what they did in the last seven months, what we should retain, and what
we should change," he explained.
A busy schedule awaits the women's team, beginning with the tour of Spain from June 12. The campaign acts as preparation for the World Cup which gets underway in London on July 7. "I'm someone who can focus quickly on the next thing. My mind is not in the past. The moment I was appointed as the women's coach, I started looking forward, I started planning. The first goal is we want to be in the top six of the World Cup, which means reaching at least the quarterfinals. Then in the Asian Games, we want to win the gold," he offered.
The swapping of coaches, which faced a lot of criticism, has its own share of problems, felt Marijne. "Nothing has changed in positions of the players since the time that I have been away. Previous coach Harendra (Singh) kept everything the same. I don't have to make a lot of changes. But difficult thing is now...Harendra has to work with my programme, the one I made (for the men) and I have to do Harendra's programme (the one he made for the women). For both of us...(it's difficult). I now go on the Spain tour when I would prefer to train here," he said.