Muller looks to maximise potential

THE new Irish ladies hockey coach is not expecting his new charges to set the world alight overnight, but he has already laid down what he believes to be some reasonable targets for the side as they head into a three-game series against Scotland this weekend.

South African Gene Muller, who has already successfully coached the women’s national team in his homeland as well as working minor miracles in his most recent role as head coach to the Canadian men’s team, admits that while next August’s European Championships in Manchester will be his first major target, he feels that the qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics which happens six months later, will be the first serious test of his side.

If nothing else, Muller is a realist, and he is well aware of the limitations of the current Irish squad in terms of their ability to impact either on the European or World scene, but he feels that even in the short period of time he has been here, he has seen a lot of unexploited potential.

“Without doubt Riet Kuper (his predecessor as coach of the Irish women’s team) did a fantastic job over several years, but there is bound to be a performance trough as we assess the players we have and those who may make the grade,” he says.

Muller only started in his new job at the beginning of last month and is still finding his feet in Ireland. Nevertheless he has already had the benefit of seeing many of the players he will be working with in the coming months at the recent interprovincial tournament in the North and just last weekend he oversaw his first player camp in Dublin at which 30 players were assessed.

“Without doubt there is a lot of potential there. I have seen a lot of the girls play already, but it is going to be very important for us in the coming months and years to bring new players through, so we will be seeing a lot of new faces in the squad, undoubtedly.”

He reckons that by the time the European Championships come around next year, his side will have at least 20 international matches under their belt and to try and ensure that no player slips through the cracks in his rebuilding effort, he will be hosting an open camp in Dublin on December 3 and 4 next where anyone who thinks they may have something to offer the Irish team can come along and be evaluated.

Having departed his base in Canada – Vancouver to be precise – Muller is now settling down to life in Dublin, where he will shortly be joined by his Canadian girlfriend Elise.

“I wanted to coach in Europe where there are so many more opportunities to play top class hockey and I also wanted to get back into coaching in the women’s game. The Irish Hockey Association had advertised for a coach to replace Riet Kuper and I was delighted to get the chance to take up this role,” he says.

“One of the attractions of coming here is the absolute potential that exists and being realistic about it, with the ability that exists in Ireland, there is the possibility to make the most of a lot of opportunities. I have no doubt we can develop a good team going forward and also have a situation where there will be a lot of competition among the players.

“We achieved a best ever World ranking of 13th under Riet Kuper and the aim is to improve on that. The first chance we get to do so is in Manchester, but realistically that will be very tough for a team in transition. We have drawn the likes of England and Holland in our pool in that competition, so it won’t be easy.

“To qualify for the Beijing Olympics from there we will have to finish third and that will not be easy. Historically our best ever European placing was fifth, so we will probably we looking to the Olympic qualifiers to see what we can do.”

The IHA has not put Muller under undue pressure to come up with instantaneous results, but qualifying for World Cups and Olympic tournaments is the undoubted aim. Their hope is that, along with Irish Hockey’s High Performance Director and men’s coach Dave Passmore, he will help build the profile of the game here in tandem with the IHA’s ambitions for the sport.

“I am focusing on developing a squad to take to the Europeans next year and we will then assess how to further take things forward.

“We have set goals, sure, but they are realistic ones and we will be working hard with the players and everyone else to achieve them,” the South African says.

Muller has already coached the South African women to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and he very nearly did the same with the Canadian men for the Athens games, when they lost by a goal to Argentina in the final of the qualifying tournament.

With Irish hockey now having been designated as Ireland’s ‘fourth sport’ behind GAA, rugby and soccer, Irish Sports Council funding has allowed the IHA bring in people of Muller’s capability and the hope now is that both men’s and women’s teams will now chart a course where they are regular competitors at international level.

“I’ve seen the Irish competing on the world stage before,” Muller says, “and I want them to do that once more. The potential is there and I want to maximise it.”