Tokyo 2020: How ‘real coach’ Sjoerd Marjine gave India the will to fight

A nervous Sjoerd Marijne, the Indian women’s hockey chief coach, leaned on the side rail, furtively glancing at his wristwatch again and again. Five minutes left on the clock.

Australia attacked in waves. India defended with every ounce of grit they could muster. Two minutes from the finish, Australia won two successive penalty corners. Marijne began to pace up and down. India defended both, one with a chaotic goalmouth scramble. Marijne punched the air. The sound of the hooter had perhaps never sounded sweeter to him when the match ended. The hockey coach from the Netherlands, who has shaped and honed this team since May 2018, jumped with joy, hugged analytical coach and former Dutch player Janneke Schopman in a tight embrace, shouting his lungs out. Crying, he made a video call to his family back home.

If this win was historic for the Indian women’s team, it was no less emotional for coach Marijne, who then rushed on to the turf, where the women sprinted towards him. The next moment they were in a huddle, roaring in joy.

“It is difficult to believe,” said Marijne, 47, after the match, still finding it difficult to control his emotions.

“Today, I told the girls to just play freely. The pressure is on the other team. I wanted the players to be proud of themselves, regardless of the result.”

Marijne was first appointed as the women’s coach in 2017, then took charge of the men’s team for a brief period, before returning to the women’s team. Schopman, the Beijing Olympics gold medallist and Athens Olympics silver medallist, joined the team in early 2020.

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Marijne’s taking over the women’s team coincided with the Odisha government becoming the chief sponsor for both the men’s and women’s hockey teams, which opened the doors for a more accomplished and varied coaching staff, and improved use of science and data in their training. Slowly, Marijne and the elite women players became a family.

Last year in March, Marijne was on his way home during the pandemic. He reached the airport and found there is a possibility he might not come back for a long time with countries shutting down borders. Marijne returned from the airport, and stayed with the team for two months in a bio-bubble in the Bengaluru Sports Authority of India centre instead.

After India opened their campaign with a 1-5 loss to the Netherlands in Tokyo, Marijne assured the team that it was not the end, and showed them “an inspirational movie”. He refused to divulge which movie.

“It looked as if everything was shattered. It wasn’t,” Marijne said. “We only needed to make a few small improvements.”

India had lost 1-6 to Australia in Rio 2016. The memory is etched into the minds of India’s two experienced players — Savita Rani and captain Rani Rampal.

“The difference is believing in yourself and believing in that big dream and I think that is what the girls have,” Marijne said. “Like Rani told me before the match, we are comfortable with Australia because we like to play against them and they don’t like to play against us.”

Later, Marijne took a selfie with the team on the team bus, tweeting “Sorry, family, I am coming again later.”

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To which, Shah Rukh Khan, who played the fictional hockey coach Kabir Khan in the sports film Chak De! India, wrote: “…no problem, just bring some Gold on your way back…From: ex-coach Kabir Khan.”

“Thank you for all the love and support,” Marijne replied. “We will give everything again. From: The Real Coach”