As the next stages of the current FIH Hockey Pro League season approach (starting from 5 February), let us hear from the teams beginning their Pro League campaigns soon! Today, Alyson Annan, Head Coach of the Chinese women's team, shares her thoughts.
What are your expectations of the upcoming FIH Hockey Pro League season?
Expectations for us are more in the line of introducing new players, to the team and to international hockey. It’ll help us secure the future of our team and I hope to have a continuation of our progression from the past couple of years.
China will play their first matches at home in Yunfu, China. How is the team preparing for the same?
We’ve been in camp for the past couple of weeks. The girls had a welcome break after a busy season last year, with a lot of matches. We started back again after the new year, with a fresh group working towards the upcoming Pro League matches in Yunfu.
The Pro League this season comes with a pathway to LA28 qualification, plus there are other continental competitions as well. How does that affect the preparations?
This is definitely a challenging year, not just for us but for all teams. The Pro League and the continental tournaments are going to be extremely important, particularly for us, having two chances via the Pro League and the Asian Games to qualify for the LA28 Olympics. It’s a challenge to have the Asian Games follow so closely after the World Cup. So, we have to be very focused, and not taking any game for granted is going to be the biggest thing for us this year.
