German goalkeeper Mark Appel has been a member of the national senior squad since 2017 and in that time, has seen the squad go through some changes in personnel and approach. The past few months of lockdown have been instrumental in helping Head Coach Kais Al Saadi to build a new culture within the squad. Recent FIH Hockey Pro League performances suggest the work on the team’s culture is paying dividends.
“We are developing an identity again which had been missing because there were major changes after the 2016 Rio Olympics,” says Appel. “Bringing young players in now, is the best thing to do, to get the young players into the high performance environment, even if they won’t go to Tokyo this time around.”
Against the Netherlands and Argentina in their previous two FIH Hockey Pro League encounters, Germany played with a defensive strength and attacking verve that both provided winning results but also demonstrated that this is a squad that is building momentum ahead of the dual challenge of the EuroHockey Championships and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
“We have made huge improvements to our team on and off the pitch,” says Appel, as he reflects on the past few months. “During the Corona lockdown, we made some big steps. We spent a lot of time together because we couldn’t meet anyone else. As a team we got better.
“We talked about what we want to be as a team and how we see ourselves. We looked at how we identify as a team. Importantly we have talked about things - that is something we didn’t really used to do.
“The most important thing is for us to look back and see where we came from. We had a high drop in performance in matches against India and Belgium earlier this year. We must bear that in mind and think about it. That is a motivation to push forwards.
“We need to keep in mind what we have done this year but we also need to look forward. No game is just a test match now. Nothing is just a development game. Everything is geared up to selection for the Olympic Games. We have to be ‘on’ for every game.”
Regarding the forthcoming matches against Great Britain, Appel says: “Every nation needs every game to perform at 100 per cent. The time to the Olympics is very close and these matches are our last official games before the EuroHockey Championships. Great Britain will have their best team because they, like every other team, needs to get their players on the pitch.”
There are many teams competing at the Olympics who have not been seen very much on the international stage. For Appel, this is a concern. “Take India for example. They beat us up, if I’m honest, when they played us recently. This is what can happen. We still don’t know what is going on there in terms of squad preparation. We just don’t know what steps teams such as Australia or New Zealand have or haven’t made. This could be a major factor at the Olympics, you could get a lot of surprises, particularly in the group matches. For me, India is the perfect example of this, they have made huge improvements since last year.
“For these two matches against Great Britain, we will be looking to maintain a high base level of performance, especially with a lot of new guys. It is important that they can all identify themselves within the team and we can get the mentality of playing for the German team as high as possible.”
To see the full interview with Mark Appel, visit here.
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