Think of Dutch hockey, the most immediate thing that strikes one is the numerous penalty corner specialists who have single-handedly won matches for the Dutch by their powerful drag-flicks. Their rivals have always felt helpless as the Dutch have ruled the game through their dreaded penalty corner experts ever since astro-turf came into being. Not surprisingly, the Dutch were the first country to win the Grand Slam of hockey as they swept all the four — World Cup, Olympics, Champions Trophy and the European Championship between 1998 to 2000. In the 70s, Paul Litjens was considered one of the best PC experts in the world and Floris Jan Bovelander took it further by refining the drag-flick into an art in the late 80s and 90s as the Dutch registered their famous victory at the the 1990 World Cup. Bovelander, arguably the best the game has ever seen, and Taco almost took Holland to consecutive titles. Two years later, Bovelander had his revenge in the Atlanta Olympics when he scored two goals off in the final against Spain. The present expert in the team, Bram Lomans, took his place and it was his opening which provided Holland the 1998 World Cup title. Except for the 2000 Olympics final, decided on tie-breakers, all the major titles in recent times have been shaped through the Oranjes’ dependable penalty corner experts. The precision and power with which these drag-flicks are taken have completely transformed the game and it is a known fact that Bovelander used to hit 400 shots in the day, not to forget the hours he spent in the gym to build his calf muscles and shoulder strength to flick the ball from difficult angles. The tradition is still being followed by the youngest sensation in the Dutch team, Taeke Taekema and Lomans, who is only 27. A World champion and Olympic gold medallist, Lomans practiced 100 shots on the eve of their match against India in the ongoing Champions Trophy. Such is their dedication in this specific field that while the rest of the team is monitored by assistants, Lomans and Taekema hone their skills under the eyes of coach Joost Bellaart. The Dutch are so professional and possessive about their gameplan that Bellart keeps it close to his chest except saying that ‘‘we have a long history, lot of professional coaches and 1,46,000 registered players in the Dutch league.’’ Their league is undoubtedly the most competitive in the world and probably the only one in hockey where sponsors bid to support the teams. Leading players from other countries accept it as a honour to get contracts from the Dutch clubs and so far only a selected few — Pakistani legend Shahbaz Ahmed, their present coach and former inside-right Tahir Zaman and their current penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas — have played in the league. The Dutch League system supports the national team with a steady outflow of players. ‘‘We play 35 international matches in a calender year but all our national level players are available any time in the year to play for the league,’’ says Bellart. Incidentally, that is not the case with the Indian team as the league does not even exist. On the other hand, the highly-competitive league there keeps the ‘‘Oranges’ blooming with steady supply of players and that is one of the reasons why Bellaart could afford to bring suitable replacements for eight of his senior players since the 2000 Olympics without letting it affect the team’s performance. The Dutch Hockey Association has just dropped four of their main players from the Champions Trophy, including the terrific forward Jaap Derk Buma after they finished third in the World Cup. It shows the high standard they have set for themselves. Instead of the veterans, the promising duo comprising the 21-year-old striker Rob Reckers and 19-year-old midfielder Floris Evers will get their breaks. Both were part of the team that won the Junior European championship in August. These youngsters will be under test at the Campions Trophy and Bellaart, with an experience of 27 years in coaching will have the daunting task of building a strong team to defend their Olympic title in 2004. Bellaart, who an extrovert by nature, talks with a lot of pride about Dutch hockey. And for a Dutch, his English is quite good and laced with strong humour. In fact, the Dutch have always been blessed with equally good coaches, who have brought a lot of football tactics into hockey. Some of them like Hans Jorritsma (1990 World Cup victory), Oltmans (1996 Olympic and 1998 World Cup titles), Maurit Hendrik (2000 Olympic title) are today among the top coaches, conducting programmes for the FIH. After a succession of brilliant coaches and teams, it is said that the Dutch are now experimenting by bringing flair and flamboyance in their forwardline as critics have always blamed them for finishing the game through their penalty corner expertise. There have been no dearth of skillful players in the Dutch team such as Stephen Ween, the star forward and architect of their victory in the ’98 World Cup and 2000 Olympics. In recent times the number of field goals scored by their players have increased. The most apt example is the four-nation Rabobank tournament which Holland won before coming to Cologne. Now after watching the Dutch, the rival coaches feel that their forwardline players are interchanging positions so fast in the ‘Dee’ that it’s almost imposisble to mark them. Chances are that Bellaart will counter them by saying that his team has always scored a high number of field goals and there is nothing new about it. After all, confidence has become a part of the Dutch psyche.
