Soorma Hockey Club Under Chief Coach Jude Menezes Hope to Craft HIL Success Story
JSW Sports-backed Soorma Hockey Club would be keyed up to put their best foot forward in the inaugural Women’s Hockey India League to be held at Ranchi. The Punjab franchise would be one among the four women teams competing in the inaugural edition. And in chief coach Jude Menezes, they have someone, who has the right coaching credentials to propel Soorma Hockey Club to new heights in the HIL. The former Indian goalkeeper, who had featured in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups as well as the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has attained a fair degree of success as coach of the New Zealand and Japan women hockey teams.
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The 53-year-old Mumbai-born coach has at its a disposal a highly talented Punjab eves team that have the ideal ingredients to give a really good account of themselves in the inaugural HIL. “I have watched the IPL auctions on TV but it was really exciting to be part of the auctions in person. You don’t quite get that sense until you’re in there when it’s live. We are happy with all the players we got via the auction. Of course, you can have your best-laid plans but it doesn’t always go the way you plan it at the auction. You got to have a plan B, plan C, plan D in place,” Jude says in an exclusive chat with Hockey Passion from Auckland.
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The Soorma Hockey Club chief coach acknowledges the backroom assistance of Indian coaches in getting the Punjab team together. “Look, I know the Indian team very well but the Indian presence of Harvinder Singh and Rani Rampal have been super-helpful for their inputs on the Indian domestic hockey players. Their local knowledge have really come in handy. We also have former Ireland women’s team coach Sean Dancer as our analytical coach – we have worked together in the New Zealand programme and go a long way,” he quips.
The Punjab franchise wear a formidable look with the likes of former Indian captain and goalkeeper Savita Punia, Nikki Pradhan, in the deep defence, three-time Dutch Olympic gold medallist Maria Verschoor, Great Britain’s Sophie Hamilton and Indian captain Salima Tete in the midfield as well as ace German forward and three-time Olympian Charlotte Stapenhorst upfront alongside young, talented Belgium striker Charlotte Englebert and New Zealand striker Olivia Shannon besides Indian young forwards Sharmila Devi and Deepika Soreng. “Savita brings so much experience to our side in the goal. I’m pretty pleased to have Nikki Pradhan, who is very resilient at the back as well as Anna Toman. Salima is also a fantastic player and a great athlete. The duo of Charlotte Stapenhorst and Charlotte Englebert gives our forwardline a robust flavour and then we have Sharmila and Deepika to complement them,” he makes his point.
Soorma Hockey Club, however were dealt a bit of a blow as they would be missing the services of German captain and three-time Olympian and attacking midfielder Nike Lorenz. “It’s unfortunate to have a player of Nike’s stature missing the HIL – she has opted out of the HIL owing to personal reasons – she was one of our two drag-flickers in the side which means we have Australia’s Penny Squibb as our lone drag-flicker. She was the top goal-scorer for Germany in the 2024 Paris Olympics,” he says with a tinge of disappointment.
The Punjab franchise would hitting the training drills in late December. “We intend to kickstart our training session in late December, most possibly in Chandigarh as the JSW Group is based in Haryana. We would subsequently head to Ranchi a few days before the competition,” he signs off.
