Bangalore: Unlike his predecessor, Sjoerd Marijne made it clear that he is not bothered by the criticisms and instead is focused on delivering results.
“I cannot do anything about what people talk about me. I am just focusing on what I can do as a coach. My quest is to build a team, which can give results on regular basis,” said Marijne in an interaction with the reporters at the Sports Authority of India on Saturday.
Marijne was earlier the coach of the Indian women’s hockey team before being appointed the head coach of the men’s team.
In a stern reply to those who questioned his selection, the 43-year-old said, “I’ve done a lot of work with men’s teams in the past — all club teams but international players. I was with the Spanish men till the 2008 Olympics with Maurits Hendricks. We won silver. In the last 17-18 years I’ve worked more with men than women. I feel confident about this job and that is most important thing for me right now.”
Roelant Oltmans, on his sacking had stated that he was always prepared to be sacked, given that foreign coaches in India are shown the door after a short-term. But Sjoerd on the contrary said, “I’m not thinking about whether I’m getting sacked; because if I am, then I’m getting distracted from my job.”
Talking about his new assignment with the men’s team he said, “I do not know how the team reacts to pressure. How are they faring in tournaments? What is their behaviour? Things like that, I would want to know in following months.”
He further added, “Asia Cup will be an important tournament for me to assess players where they stand and what needs to be done on their shortcomings and improvement on their strengths.”
He also mentioned that the women’s team was disappointed to know about his exit, because they will be missing his work. “Yeah, they were disappointed because they were happy with what we were doing. I am happy that they were disappointed because if they weren’t that would have meant I was not doing my job properly.”
Sjoerd Marijne was appointed for his familiarity with Indian culture: David John
Hockey India’s High Performance Director David John on Saturday stated that Sjoerd Marijne was appointed coach of the men’s national team because of his familiarity with the Indian culture, which put him ahead of other applicants.
“Marijne had a slight advantage over others, for he understood the Indian culture while he was working with the Indian women’s team for the last six months. From that perspective, that is really important for having been here before,” said David John.