A film filled the spirit of the Indian women’s hockey team and became history

Sjoerd Marijne, the head coach of the Indian women’s hockey team, revealed that the team’s morale was broken by three consecutive defeats. The players then watched the confidence-building film, which sparked a new passion and they went on to create history by reaching the Olympic semi-finals for the first time.

The Indian team made a great comeback after consecutive losses and Marin said watching a movie before the ‘do or die’ match against Ireland helped the team psychologically. He did not reveal the name of this film.

After the 1-0 win over Australia in the quarter-finals, Marin said, “Believe in yourself and believing in your dreams made the difference, and it was about facing reality with the past in mind.” It was an important thing and that is what we did.

She said, ‘If you lose, you don’t stop believing in yourself and that’s what I told the girls. The most important thing is to live in that moment. I showed him a film and it was about living the present moment and I think it really helped. We kept mentioning this film against Ireland.

Marin declined to name the film, saying, ‘I have mentioned it in my book which I have written about my experiences in India during the lockdown.’

‘We aimed to touch the clouds’

The head coach said that he only asked the team to think about their highest goal. Marin said, ‘In India you should have high thinking and this is what I told the girls. If you aim at the highest, you aim to touch the clouds, you will fall on the highest mountain, and if you aim for the mountain, you will fall on the ground.

He said, ‘We aimed to touch the clouds and I said what happens after that doesn’t matter, but we have to keep our target high.’ Indian captain Rani Rampal credited the film for changing the fortunes of the team.

He said, ‘I think the film really helped us. The film inspired us to live in the present moment. Learned to think only about what is in front of you and not to think about the past. Today the coach said just focus on 60 minutes, play the role only for 60 minutes.

Marin said, ‘We were thinking what is the biggest goal for the women’s team and it is not about winning a medal. It is associated with inspiring women and motivating young girls in India. You want to create such a legacy. This is the legacy that girls want to make. That is our mindset and I am here to help and the medal helps in these things,” she said.