Road to LA 2028: How Sjoerd Marijne and his team rebuilt Indian women’s hockey

Image credit: Hockey India Tears flowed freely on the pitch at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium. More than 5,500 km away, in India, a loyal legion of women’s hockey, small in numbers but deep in investment, rejoiced.They watched a team where skill matched prowess, individual brilliance was backed up by teamwork and ultimately belief returned.The gold medal, won after 44 years, was decisive. But a direct ticket to the Olympics in Los Angeles was unprecedented.Interest in women’s hockey has increased after India’s fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics. However, the lack of Paris shattered the hopes and aspirations that had begun to build.Then came well-documented rifts, accusations, a slump in form and plenty of injuries. The shadow over Los Angeles darkened.Enter Sjoerd Marijne and his support staff. They didn’t have a magic wand to make the demons disappear. They brought a systematic approach to rebuilding the team’s physical and psychological framework.The Dutchman was quick to point out that rebuilding a team is never the work of one man.“There’s a great connection between the staff and the players. I’m doing interviews but it’s a team success. I’m really happy with all the quality I have around me,” he said.But there was one more requirement, making sure the players were fit enough to play as one.That’s where Wayne Lombard, team leader for sports performance, came in. He had a broad idea of ​​the team’s physical condition when he arrived.The support staff pressed the reset button. Rodet Yila and Caira Yila were brought in as scientific advisors, with the immediate priority not fitness for fitness’s sake, but the health of the players.“Regardless of what the fitness level was, the priority was to address the injury concerns,” Lombard said.This required more than just drills and numbers. The players had to believe in the process.“We had to sit down with the players and earn their buy-in. Helping them understand that the physical side of the game is just as important as the technical and tactical side,” Lombard said.He introduced the 30-15 intermittent fitness test to determine the maximum aerobic speed of players. The test required them to run for 30 seconds, rest for 15 and progress across a 40m grid, with speed increasing by 0.5km/h at each stage.Muscle by muscle, the players regained their strength. With that came confidence.As the year progressed, India began to look more and more like a team rather than a collection of talented individuals.Poetic justice or coincidence, Japan stood in India’s way in qualifying for the Paris Olympics. In Japan, a little over two years later, India broke the Los Angeles hurdle.