National coach Alyson Annan immediately leaves Netherlands women
Alyson Annan is immediately no longer the national coach of the Orange Women. The KNHB and Annan have too big a difference of opinion about the approach of the current process to improve cooperation and group culture at the team, the union reports in a press release.
Annan, who was appointed in October 2015, won a cartload of prizes with Orange. In the past six years, the Netherlands became Olympic champion, twice world champion and the team won three European Championships under her leadership. The KNHB is currently considering the succession of Annan, both for the short and the longer term. Next summer, the Orange Women will look to defend their World Champions title.
This decision follows the dissatisfaction that emerged in November . Some of the Orange players announced at the time that they did not have a ‘good feeling’ about the team climate in which they performed in the past period. The KNHB subsequently appointed an independent external supervisor, among other things.
In my opinion there is no difference of opinion about what can be improved, but about how to approach it
Alyson Annan
He first started with the group culture. ‘The external supervisor has used the past three months to take the first steps in this process with staff and team’, responds Jeroen Bijl, technical director of the hockey association. ‘It gradually became apparent that the approach that we as an association have opted for in this process does not match Alyson’s vision on it. For us, as KNHB, there is no other way than the chosen route that we took with conviction in November. Of course we would have liked to finish the trajectory with Alyson up to and including the World Cup. Especially given her track record and what she has meant as national coach.’
Annan: ‘In recent months I have gained insight into the points that we could work on as a team, staff and individual
. In my opinion there is no difference of opinion about what can be improved, but about how to approach it. I drew a line for myself there and unfortunately this is the consequence.’
Research total performance climate
In addition to paying attention to the current team climate and mutual communication, the KNHB made agreements in December with an independent confidential advisor, especially for all players of the
representative (youth) teams of the hockey association. This is also intended to improve the performance climate.
An independent study is also underway to get a more careful overall picture of this team’s performance climate. The results of this investigation are expected to be available within two months.