As the ultimate levels of the present FIH Hockey Professional League season strategy (ranging from 13 June), allow us to hear from the collaborating groups. In the present day, Xantal Gine, captain of the Spanish ladies’s facet — “The Pink Sticks” — shares her ideas.
How is the staff approaching these two Professional League levels in Rotterdam and London?We’re excited and extremely motivated to return collectively once more with the nationwide staff for this second Professional League window. I feel we carried out very properly through the first window (Valencia and Australia), and now we wish to keep that stage, proceed delivering robust performances and hold including factors.
The Professional League comes at an necessary stage forward of the World Cup. What do you count on from this preparation interval?We’re absolutely conscious that the very best preparation we are able to have earlier than the World Cup is competing on this second Professional League window. That’s the reason we wish to push ourselves to the utmost and acquire optimistic aggressive emotions and confidence. We can even have three weeks earlier than the beginning of the World Cup to finish our preparation and arrive in the very best situation.
The squad combines extremely skilled gamers with youthful athletes who’re pushing laborious for his or her place. As captain, how do you construct that connection inside the staff?I consider that having this mixture of skilled and youthful gamers is giving us an additional edge as a staff. The senior gamers attempt to cross on the significance of professionalism and dedication in every part we do, whereas the youthful gamers carry enthusiasm, vitality and a preventing spirit that we additionally want. We have now a really wholesome and aggressive group, stuffed with ambition, that at all times places the nationwide staff above any private scenario or dedication. That’s what makes us the household we’re at this time.
Spanish ladies’s hockey has been rising and establishing itself among the many world’s high groups for a number of years. Do you suppose this group nonetheless has room to shock individuals and take one other step ahead?With none doubt. In actual fact, I feel many individuals are nonetheless shocked by how a lot Spain has improved in such a brief time frame. The gamers wish to continue to grow, the teaching workers desires to continue to grow, and the Federation desires us to proceed enhancing and is absolutely dedicated to that objective. As I discussed earlier than, our precedence is the nationwide staff, and we’d like to see Spain attain the very high of world hockey sooner or later.
