Sjoerd took charge of team last month and in his maiden assignment, the team won the Hockey World League Round 2 title in West Vancouver recently. The win helped the side advance to the next round -- Hockey World League Semifinal -- also a World Cup qualifier.
"What I understood is that Indian girls lack self belief. They sometimes lose a match even before stepping on the turf. I think they consider themselves smaller when they play against a higher-ranked country," the 42-year-old told PTI in an interview from Holland.
India played the likes of minnows Uruguay, Chile and Belarus in Hockey World League Round 2 and Sjoerd refuses to read too much into the side's successful performance in West Vancouver.
"We were the favourites in the tournament as we were the top-ranked side but indeed it was a good start. My main target is to reach the quarterfinals in the 2020 Olympics," he said.
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Incidentally, Sjoerd was the coach of the Dutch women's side that won 7-0 in the only match against India he was involved in -- at the HWL Semifinals in 2015,.
Sjoerd achieved plenty of success in his previous coaching stints, which included leading the Dutch junior women's side to a World Cup title. He then followed it up with a gold medal at the World League Semifinals in 2015 with the senior team.
The huge gap between the Indian girls' fitness and the rest was visible during the Rio Olympics, where India failed to win a single match.
"In modern day hockey, fitness is another area which is of paramount importance. If you have to match top teams of the world you have to be physically stronger," Sjoerd said.
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