A movie on self belief did the trick: Sjoerd Marijne
(Sourced from PTI)
Watching a movie on self-belief after three consecutive losses rebuilt the Indian women's hockey team's shattered morale and helped it to "aim for the clouds," the side's Dutch coach Sjoerd Marijne revealed on Monday after Rani Rampal and Co. entered their maiden Olympic semifinals in Tokyo. The Indian team bounced back tremendously in the tournament after successive losses.
Marijne said the movie helped psychologically ahead of the must-win pool game against Ireland but didn't reveal its name. "The difference is believing in ourselves and believing in their dreams and then it's about going back to reality focusing on your past. I think that's the main thing and that's what we did," Marijne said after upsetting world number 2 Australia in the quarterfinals.
"If you lose you don't stop believing and that's what I told the girls. The most important thing is to stay in the moment," Marijne said. "I showed them a movie and that movie is about being in the moment and I think that was really helpful. Against Ireland we kept on referring to that movie," he said.
He said all he asked the team to do was to aim for the highest. India captain Rani Rampal too credited the movie for the turnaround of fortunes. "I think that movie really helped us. It gave us the boost to be in the present moment. Today the coaches said just focus on 60 minutes, just do your job for 60 minutes," she said.
The coach said he is a proud man as this achievement holds great significance for women's hockey in India. "We were thinking what is the big goal for the women's (team) and it's not about winning medals, it's about inspiring women in India, the position improving and inspiring young girls. That's the legacy the girls want to create," he said.
Marijne couldn't hide his emotions and credited the hard work of the players for this feat. Skipper Rampal also credited their hard work in the last five years for the remarkable turnaround after the 2016 Rio Olympics, where they finished last.
