Making of jr. women’s hockey team: Colour-coded sessions, tough drills, training with the senior team

The move began with a steal
A few yards inside Malaysia’s half, Beauty Dungdung snatched the ball, passed it to her teammate Baljeet Kaur and embarked on a sprint down the left flank. Baljeet calmly played a through ball in the direction of Sharmila Devi, who was unmarked near the 25-yard line in the centre of the pitch.
Without really looking up, Sharmila moved the ball to the left, confident that then, Beauty would have already brushed aside the Malaysian defenders and be available to receive the pass. Beauty controlled Sharmila’s pass on the run and – once again, without looking up – crossed the ball first-time towards the far post, where Mumtaz Khan dived forward and deflected the ball past the goalkeeper.

That passage of play during their final group-stage match of the Junior World Cup, which lasted less than 20 seconds perhaps, summed up everything about this under-21 side: trained so well that the players know each other’s positions via intuition, the ability to move the ball around with precision and pace, the sublime ball control and the speed at which they attack.
But more than anything, their willingness – quite simply – to have fun every time they step on the turf. For a bunch that’s been together for five years, endured life in bio-bubbles and shared the disappointment of having their World Cup postponed, that’s the only way they’ve known to play, and practice.
On social media, Bichu Kharibam and Suman Thoudam routinely slay it with their slick reels; at training camps, they aren’t shy to play a prank on their teammates; dance choreography has become an essential part of their routine, which perhaps explains the well-coordinated moves they’ve displayed during their march to Sunday’s semifinals, where they’ll take on the Netherlands, who are now the top contenders for the title after Argentina suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Germany.
“We have quite a bond in the junior team. We enjoy a lot together,” vice-captain Ishika Chaudhary said. If we win, we have fun. If we lose, we still find ways to enjoy and back each other. That’s just how the environment is in our batch. We know what everyone likes, and what we can use to tease each other with.”
The shift in the body language of the players is remarkable, given that the women’s teams of the past were often criticised for being timid and scared, which resulted in them playing a cagey, defensive style of hockey. Not this bunch, though. The team, coached Eric Wonink and captained Salima Tete, plays with freedom and exuberance that’s usually associated with youth. And a lot of confidence as well, taking inspiration from the path-breaking results achieved the senior team that finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics.

Colour-coded sessions
It isn’t always fun. Ahead of the quarterfinals against South Korea, which India won 3-0 on Friday, Ishika gave a peek into how grueling their training can get. “Our training sessions are divided in colours – there are hard sessions (red), moderate (orange) and green, which take place after hard sessions for recovery,” she said.The concept isn’t novel. Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne, who managed the dugout at the Olympics, introduced the colour-coded sessions in the women’s team and Wonink, Marijne’s former assant, brought forward the idea to the junior side.
A few weeks ago, senior India captain Savita Punia had explained the significance of these colour-coded sessions: the green sessions, she had said, had relatively light workouts where they practice penalty corner and shoot-out drills along with some gym work; the orange session is a little more elaborate but low on intensity compared to the red session, which can drain every ounce of energy from the body.
During a red session, there are 3v3, 5v5, 8v8, and, at times, even 11v11 drills. The pitch is divided into three stations; when a player completes her drill at one station, she immediately has to move to the next without taking a break. Every week, there are three to four red sessions, two orange and two or three green sessions.The junior team has been training along with the seniors and has more or less followed a similar schedule. The sharing of ideas between the senior and junior players has improved the under-21 side individually and as a unit, Tete said.
“We managed to make a few more combinations, which was handy. Players like Beauty (Dung Dung) didn’t know how to play in some defined structures, so we could practice that and prepare,” Tete said.The seniors, who have drastically improved over the last couple of years, shared tips on the art of pressing, moving the ball and holding possession. “It also improved our speed and confidence,” Ishika adds.
Rampaging Dutch
Each of these aspects will prove decisive against the Netherlands on Saturday. In 2013, the only other time India reached the semifinals of the Junior World Cup when they eventually won bronze, they were beaten the Netherlands 3-0 in the last-four stage.
The Dutch went on to become champions back then, and are the favourites even now. They have been the most dominant side of the Junior World Cup so far, scoring an average of more than 10 goals per match without conceding even once. Astonishingly, they’ve scored almost one-third of the total goals scored in the competition – 43 out of 137 – and the tournament’s top-two goal-getters are both Dutch – Jip Dicke (12) and Luna Fokke (10).
It’ll undoubtedly be the toughest test for India so far but it’ll also be a challenge for the Netherlands, who have until now only played the minnows of international hockey – the USA, Zimbabwe, Canada and South Africa. Yet, this will be a stern test for the Indian defence to withstand pressure from the rampaging Dutch forwards and a challenge for the Indian attackers to score past a defence that’s not conceded a goal so far.

Whatever the outcome, one thing looks certain: when they step on the turf, these players will carry no baggage, just a bunch of youngsters out there having fun.
Jr World Cup semifinals: India vs the Netherlands, 5pm, Live on: Watch hockey and FancodeNumber plate
2: Number of times India have reached the semifinals of the women’s Junior Hockey World Cup. The only other time they reached the last-four stage was in 2013, where they lost, incidentally, to the Netherlands 3-0.
43: Number of goals the Netherlands have scored in the four matches they’ve played so far, the most among all teams. In fact, they’ve scored nearly one-third of the total goals scored in the Junior World Cup so far.