What makes the FIH Hockey Pro League so appealing to you?
There are two factors that make the Pro League interesting. Every match is played at the highest level. It’s always close, and you always have to push yourself to the limit to have a chance of winning. And most of the matches take place in a professional setting. And if you’re lucky enough to play against the host team, you also get to play in front of a full crowd. That’s definitely a motivating factor. “:false,”134233118″:false,”335557856″:16777215,”335559738″:0,”335559739”:0}”=””>
What are your ambitions for your teams in the upcoming season?
We have struggled in recent years to consistently field our top team. This is partly because the national league phase has been extended and we have to compensate for more games overall. As a result, we have had to field a prospect team from time to time in order to achieve a healthy balance between the league and Pro League travel. This season, we will try to play a lot with our core team. This will help us to develop our game, which we urgently need to do. So we want to grow with and through the challenging games. And you want to win every game anyway. I’m curious to see how well we succeed. A lot will depend on how we perform in our first block in Ireland in December. “:false,”134233118″:false,”335557856″:16777215,”335559738″:0,”335559739”:0}”=””>
What will the preparations look like?
There was a recovery phase because the players hardly had any time for that after the European Championship. After the holidays we headed to the training camp in South Africa in mid-November. There, we finally had time to train hard and intensively. We lack the joint development time on the pitch compared to some other nations that train centrally. After this we want to go to Dublin with the best possible drive.“:false,”134233118″:false,”335557856″:16777215,”335559738″:0,”335559739”:0}”=””>
Who do you consider to be your opponents on equal footing, the ones you need to beat in the high-profile matches?
That’s what makes the Pro League so special. All opponents are on equal footing. I predicted before the Olympic Games in Paris that all quarter-finals would be real 50-50 matches with surprises – and that’s how it turned out. That perfectly describes the level of performance. And of course, I’m delighted that Pakistan, a new team with a long tradition, will be enriching the competition.“:false,”134233118″:false,”335557856″:16777215,”335559738″:0,”335559739”:0}”=””>
