GUANGZHOU: Pakistan’s hockey coach, Dutchman Michel van den Heuvel who played a key role in the national team’s magnificent victory in the Asian Games, is likely to give up his post for what he termed as “family’s concerns about my security”, Dawn learnt on Saturday. Pakistan won a gold medal in the Asian Games after 20 years under Michel who took over the team just five months back, after the team faced lot of criticism for their dismal show in the World Cup last February.
Michel, who has now achieved the status of ‘master coach’ in the FIH coaching list with the win in Asiad, said: “I have to consult my family first whether I should continue with the team or not, and it all depends on their [family’s] opinion.”
Asked if he had employed any special techniques or strategy with Pakistan players for the Asiad, he said: “All we did was to prepare for the ‘real’ games and the players were pushed for giving better results and to build their stamina ahead of the Asian Games. We have been preparing for the last four months for this event and the team finally bagged the gold in China.”
About Pakistan’s chances in the London Olympics, Michel said: “It’s a long way to go for London 2012 Olympics, so it is too early to say anything.”
But while the Dutchman cited family reasons for having second thoughts about continuing with Pakistan team’s coaching, background interviews conducted with few former players indicated that some of the former hockey greats were clearly unhappy with the attitude of the Dutch coach and dubbed him as an arrogant person who hardly listened to any advice.
“Some people are unnecessarily making ego issues with Michel,” disclosed a former Olympian on condition of anonymity.
“But the fact is that he is the boss and the boss listens to suggestions but takes his own decision because at the end of the day, it is the coach who is answerable for the result,” said the former Olympian about Heuvel’s approach .
“If he quits at this juncture, Pakistan’s hockey will falter once again in a big way since several former hockey ‘legends’ have already been given a stint with the squad as coaches and have failed to achieve much.”
Another ex-Olympian, praising the Dutch coach’s scientific methods, said his precise placements of players on the field apparently involved a lot of mathematical calculations which paid off in the end.
During the final of the Asian Games against Malaysia, coach Michel stationed himself in the stand just above the Pakistan team’s sitting area, instructing the players about the various strategies according to the changing tempo of the game.
For example, he asked Waseem Ahmed not to leave his centre half position as an open half line could be disastrous for the team.
“The way he made the changes were very ‘geometric’ one could say. The bottom line is that it has paid off and it will be sad to see him leaving if he does,” added the former Olympian.
“Even if you hire a new foreign coach now, he will start from scratch and who knows what will happen then.”
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