Mumbai, Feb 15 (IANS): From playing very few matches over the last two years the Indian women's hockey team is now gearing up for a year in which it will have to play a lot of matches. Besides the FIH Pro League, Indian women will be playing in the FIH World Cup from July 1 to 17, the Commonwealth Games at Birmingham from July 28-August 8 which will be followed by the Asian Games in Hangzhou from September 10-25.
India started the year with the Asia Cup, in which they won bronze, followed by two comprehensive wins against China in the FIH Pro League in Muscat Oman on January 31 and February 1. This weekend they would have played World No 1 the Netherlands in Bhubaneswar but the Dutch pulled out citing the Covid-19 situation. Next week, India take on Spain at the Kalinga Stadium in back-to-back matches on February 26 and 27.
The Pro League will be followed by the World Cup, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in that order with a focus on the Asian Games as it will also be the qualifier for the Paris Olympics in 2024.
With so many events in close proximity in the second half of the year, managing players' match-preparedness, game time and recovery become very important. This also has to be clubbed with player development to keep the assembly line going.
In such situations, some coaches may make wholesale changes in the squad from event to event to manage the players' workload.
But Indian women's team coach Janneke Schopman said she does not believe in making too many changes and bringing too many new players for giving them exposure.
"I don't believe in making too many changes. I am not in favour of too much experimenting and I am not looking at having 10-15 new players for a tournament. We will give chances to new players but I also want my team to win matches. We have to also take care of our plans," Janneke told the media in a virtual press conference on Tuesday, ahead of the Pro League matches against Spain.
The 44-year-old coach, an Olympics and World Cup medallist with the Netherlands as a player, said managing the team for so many events will not be a problem as the players always want to play.
She said playing the Pro League matches will be the right preparation for the Asian Games as they will be playing teams with different playing styles.
"We will be playing against very different styles of hockey and good competition. Pro League will help us fine-tune our preparations for the Asian Games. Pro League has different teams which play different styles of hockey. We want to play our style as per our plans but gain experience from the Pro League," she said.
She said she has changed the team's playing style a bit since taking over from Sjoerd Marijne and the team is playing a lot more aggressively but with a strong defence that plays up higher up in the field.
Senior player Monica, who has got to play a lot more upfront, said playing Spain in Bhubaneswar will be a challenge for the team as Spain is a strong team.
She said the team's way of doing things have changed a bit and the players are enjoying playing in the new system of play.