Johannesburg – South African men's hockey player Rassie Pieterse believes the appointment of Charlie Pereira as head coach has revitalised the national team.
Appointed in May, Pereira guided the SA men to the World League semi-finals with impressive showings against the likes of Chile, Brazil and Argentina earlier in the year, after taking charge on an interim basis, before getting the nod for the permanent role.
Pieterse said the newly-appointed coach had made a good start to his tenure with the national outfit, after former mentor Gregg Clark's contract ended at the completion of last season and he opted not to re-apply for the post.
“So far, I think the players are really enjoying Charlie. He's quite straightforward and he's very open,” Pieterse said.
“If you have an issue or if you want to know where you stand with him, you can go see him.
“Charlie wants to bring something new to men's hockey. Structurally, he wants us to play more attacking hockey, so he wants to play a brand of hockey where we're going forward a lot.
“So far he's very different to what we had in the past, but it's quite relaxed and it's quite exciting.”
A national training camp for 40 of the country's top players took place in Cape Town at the beginning of the year, before another 40-man squad assembled for a trial camp in Johannesburg last week.
The veteran goalkeeper said the two training camps had allowed Pereira to choose from a large pool of talent in the country.
“That was something that we lacked in the past,” Pieterse said.
“We needed to get a big squad together and now for the first time, when we had a camp at the beginning of the year in Cape Town, we had more than 40 guys there.
“At last week's trial camp, we had the rest of the squad of 40 guys there, so they (coaching staff) could really have a good look at all the players.”
With a number of senior players making themselves unavailable for the upcoming four-Test series against Malaysia, Pieterse believed while their experience would be missed, the new members of the squad had shown their willingness to hit the ground running.
“From an experience point of view, they bring a lot to the party, but these up-and-coming guys that they've brought into the team have done so seamlessly.
“Experience counts a lot, so it will be nice to have the older guys back, but the younger guys are definitely filling their shoes.
“It's quite exciting to give these guys an opportunity and they're showing their worth at the moment. It's not going to be easy for the other guys (senior players) just to walk back into the team.”
The first three Tests against the Malaysians will be played in Potchefstroom starting Thursday, with the fourth and final match taking place in Johannesburg next week. – Sapa