Last November, the Netherlands’ hockey coach Jeroen Delmee, who has performed in 4 world cups, was bang on about what to anticipate from India. “The accommodations and the two fields there are not finished yet, as we can see from photos and videos that are circulating. But that is typically India: everything will be delivered just in time. But I’m not surprised if the walls are still wet,” he instructed De Telegraaf. The partitions are certainly nonetheless moist; two days earlier than internet hosting its first-ever World Cup match, Rourkela’s Birsa Munda Stadium nonetheless resembles a development web site. But the Dutch knew. After their first follow session, the group’s twitter deal with put up a coronary heart emoji.
Their coach Delmee, 49, does love India and appears to realize it nicely too. He has been well-informed by his former teammate Floris Jan Bovelander, one other previous India hand whose basis has quite a lot of tasks in Odisha. “If necessary, they [Indian authorities] will send a thousand men to assemble the chairs. Really: it will all be done in time. Only: you should not come a day early.” Or as Delmee put it: “You know in advance that all kinds of things will go wrong, but that’s just the way it goes there. There’s no point in worrying about that. It is what it is. I like the culture and the way hockey is experienced.”
De Telegraaf additionally quizzed the coach in December once more in regards to the world cup in India and what will be anticipated from the Netherlands group.
𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟 🤩
The stars have set the stage on hearth and kicked off the wonderful #HWC2023 celebrations in absolute model!
Few 📸 to offer us a peek on the energetic environment on the historic #BarabatiStadium.#HockeyWorldCup2023 #HockeyComesHome #HockeyHaiDilMera pic.twitter.com/e9C1vzi8Xa
— Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) January 11, 2023
“I have nothing to complain about, the boys are very good at it. It is a new group, a team that is completely different from the old Orange of Tokyo. You all have boys who want to, some of whom have a bad hangover from Tokyo. Those guys are like it’s once and never again. It’s well organized, even the reserves and the guys who don’t even go to India train hard. They want to show me that I made a mistake. That’s how you do it,” Delmee stated.
They have been making ready preserving in thoughts the climate in Odisha. “In India the temperatures will be ‘slightly’ better, around 30 degrees. But because we are now allowed to exchange continuously, you can regulate things much better. By adjusting the playing time and rest periods, the boys can still give full throttle at the end of the World Cup,” Delmee stated.
In the eyes of the coach, the world cup in India will give him a measure of the place his all-new group stands forward of the Paris Olympics in 2024.
“’India’ is the first measurement moment on the way to ‘Paris 2024’. Many boys are no longer ‘in the shadow of’, but now have to take the lead. You can’t train that, but you have to experience it, in my experience. When I see how they handled it, I have every confidence in that. They have gotten better every month since last October. Thanks to a healthy chunk of work ethic.”
Delmee performed in 4 world cups and within the time of the previous guidelines. “The hockey of that time can no longer be compared to the hockey of today. In ‘my time’ you just played 70 minutes, there was hardly any substitution. Many players in Malaysia (2022 world cup) suffered from dehydration. At one point, Sander van der Weide, who was completely lost, went in the wrong direction. You lost three to four kilos per game. Pure moisture. At halftime you effortlessly tapped away a bottle of one and a half liters of water.”
Now, health nonetheless issues however Delmee says it has develop into such an influence recreation that it’ll come down to hurry and dash potential.
“You can still win matches on fitness, especially as the tournament progresses. But it is mainly in speed and sprint ability. Hockey has been evolved. It has become a power sport, a sport for sprinters. It’s about power, explosiveness, agility. Endurance power is becoming less and less important, because you can regulate it with your switching schedule.”
“Each team has progressed so far in global hockey that you hardly get through if the opponent is well organized. You live in the transition moments, especially in top competitions. The lesser teams sometimes make a mistake under pressure.”
