Sixty-three games won in nine title tournaments. The statistics of the Dutch hockey players between 2017 and 2021 led by national coach Alyson Annan are impressive. Only twice in that long span did the team lose.
But the price for all those successes was high, according to a report published Thursday by an independent research firm. After the gold at the Tokyo Games, the evaluation of the Olympic trajectory already revealed a lot of dissatisfaction with the performance culture. Under pressure from several major league clubs, the KNHB was forced to hire an external party. In recent months, research agency Fijbes Consultancy spoke to 47 people – staff and (former) players – from the period January 2020-February 2022.
In the conclusions, especially Annan, the Australian born who was appointed as national coach in 2015, comes off badly. “Negative experiences with the national coach” and “fear due to hurtful/ambiguous interactions” are cited as reasons why more than half of the players regard the performance culture within the Dutch team as negative. Annan was fired in January after several internationals had indicated that they no longer wanted to continue with her.
According to the researchers, “a strong hierarchy prevailed in the selection of Dutch hockey women, which is seen as negative and inhibiting openness and individuality”. Playing in Orange should be the highest achievable for a hockey player, but many experienced it as oppressive. “After all, people feel inclined to keep up appearances, which is why they will not dare to be open and honest,” the researchers said. “Important information therefore remains unknown,undiscussables† a kind of public secrets or taboos.”
The corrupted performance culture among women hockey meant that there was no longer any eye for the personal problems of the often young players. The focus on performance has created a “blind spot” through which “mental well-being problems have gone undetected.” On the other hand, there were also positive sides to this demanding culture, such as the will to win and to work hard.
The research bureau has made fifteen recommendations to the hockey association to improve the performance culture. The atmosphere within the team would now be tense, so more attention should be paid to aftercare, and a different view of the division between the number of hours at the club and the Dutch team.
The researchers also recommend a “periodic welfare check”, something the KNHB will take over. The hockey association has also promised to evaluate better, by carrying out at least one full evaluation per year of all players and players and coaching staff.
With the Hockey World Cup in the Netherlands and Spain coming up next summer, there is little time to smooth out the folds within the team, the researchers acknowledge. ‘Harmonizing and normalizing’ will take energy. After Annan’s resignation, German assistant coach Jamilon Mülders (45) was promoted to national team coach. He does not aspire to this role and will say goodbye after the World Cup.
In a response to the results of the study, the KNHB calls it “undesirable” that the performance climate was not safe and “regrets that”. There is no public expression of regret to the players, and nothing is reported about the role of technical director Jeroen Bijl, who has been employed by the KNHB since May 2018 and is responsible for the national teams. It remains unclear why the investigation is limited to the period from 2020 onwards. Since Annan’s appointment, there have been signs that her working method has aroused resistance. Between 2016 and 2020, several people resigned from the guidance.
According to KNHB director Erik Gerritsen, the period from 2020 has been chosen in consultation with the researchers. “We can be blamed for the fact that the signals have not reached us. We should have done that better. We have made mistakes, but that cannot be attributed to a few people. We as a whole organization are responsible for that.” Gerritsen does not think that the KNHB should draw more consequences.
Gerritsen regrets that too little has been done with the negative signals that were given after the 2018 World Cup. “We urged the national coach and staff to make changes based on those signals, but then only checked the players in question. After a positive reaction from their side, we did not do the same check with the entire group of players. We did that badly.”