With 481 caps with Belgium, John-John Dohmen is the most-capped hockey player of all times. As his playing career is coming to an end, he’s recently embraced a coaching career, taking the reins of the men’s French national team, Les Bleus. FIH met him at the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

After a playing career as full as yours, how is the transition to your new coaching role going?

It's going very well. I felt ready to make the transition. It's important to be mentally ready because when you stop your playing career it's not an easy period. I'm lucky to have a group that listens well, is ready to make sacrifices to improve and wants to progress. I think we're on the right track, even if there are still a lot of things to improve.

I can also feel what the players need, which is an advantage. There are advantages and disadvantages to being a young coach who is just finishing his playing career, and this is an advantage in the sense that I can feel things, before or during the match, that only the players can feel. This can help my team.

Is becoming a coach a long-standing project or something that has matured over the years?

It is rather the second option. When I was young, I never coached. I didn't want to coach. Even my father told me to coach, but I didn't want to. I'm a rather shy person at first. But I've always been very good tactically. Very early on, I became interested in the tactical aspect. I love video analysis, for example. But I couldn't see myself talking to a group three times a day.

In the end, it was thanks to my role as captain with the Red Lions that things evolved. As my career progressed, I had to change my role in the team. I became more of a tactician than an action player. It was at that moment that the ambition to coach matured in my head. I was becoming more and more important in the team in terms of decision-making, and I realized that often my views were right. It gave me confidence.

Did you think you would start at the head of a national team, or did you see yourself coaching a club at first?

There are not many coaching positions. You have to take the opportunities that present themselves. That said, I've been saying for years that I'd love to work with France. It's a team that has talent, potential. And then, I know the team and the French Hockey Federation well.

Who is/are the coach(es) who inspired you? And do you try to be inspired by them?

I was lucky enough to play for a long time, so I’ve known a lot of coaches, both for clubs and for the national team. I try, while remaining myself, to be inspired by them. I have been around excellent coaches. I would mention Shane McLeod, very, very good mentally, always very calm and very strong tactically as well. He manages to give a clear role to everyone. That's key and I really try to draw inspiration from it.

I would also mention Jeroen Delmee, the best tactician in the world! He created the Belgian tactic about ten years ago and he continues to apply it to this day. We won tournaments with Belgium thanks to the tactics that Jeroen had put in place. I try to draw inspiration from him as well.

And then I think of Marc Lammers, who was excellent in his speech. He found the right examples, with the appropriate videos. It was quite inspiring. And he was very good with the media. I think I'll never do as well as him at that level.

These are all examples for me.

France is often referred to as a rising hockey nation. This was the case with Belgium about fifteen years ago. Do you see a parallel?

Yes, I find that there is a parallel. The French generation that is coming up has a lot of talent. The players are very strong physically. There is still a lot of work to be done, but the potential is great. I think there is a way to recreate what we experienced with our generation in Belgium, while keeping the French identity.

With Belgium, we had raised our level in an incredible way. But it took time. And that's something we're going to have to accept. Maybe we will experience failures. We will then have to keep the confidence and continue to be fully involved; that's the most important thing.

How do you analyse the situation of Les Bleus today?

With Belgium, we decided to make a lot of sacrifices, including on a personal level, to build something great. I feel that this awareness is starting among the players of the France team. When I look at the match against Korea, I think that not long ago the score would have ended on an 1-8 or 1-9. But we managed to come back mentally in this game and finally win it in the last quarter. I feel that something is happening.

What is the margin for improvement of this team?

I think it's very big. There is a huge amount of mental work to be done. But I experienced the same thing with Belgium. The hockey and physical potential are very high. If mentally we manage to be consistent, which is not the case today, we can get great results.

For the time being, France is playing in the Nations Cup. With the ambition of winning it. But isn't the main objective to qualify for the World Cup?

The objective has been clear since the day I signed my contract: to qualify the France team for the World Cup! This gives me time to build.

We haven't seen enough of the players yet to make a great Nations Cup. But that's not an excuse. We must improve with each match and that's what we're doing. I hope it will continue.

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