A Korean coach's Chinese family

Kim Sang-ryul cares about China's women's hockey on and off the field

As the only South Korean coach in China's sports delegation, Kim Sang-ryul isn't lonely at the London Games.

His Chinese women's hockey team has become his family.

"I'm not alone or feeling lonely," Kim said after China was defeated 1-0 by the Netherlands in its third-group match on Thursday.

The Netherlands' Ellen Hoog (right) tries to score against China's Ren Ye during the women's hockey preliminary match at the 2012 Olympics on Thursday. The Netherlands won 1-0. Bullit Marquez / Associated Press

"I'm a member of this family. I'm one of their teachers and one of their fathers. When they have problems, I feel like I am their father, and I should deal with that."

During the Beijing Games, Kim was head coach of China's men's team and joined a number of his compatriots who worked with China's hockey, archery and handball teams.

This time around doesn't feel any different though.

"At the London Olympics, there were also other foreign coaches in the Chinese delegation," he said. "Not just me. We are foreigners, but we are coaching China. China is my team."

Kim seems to genuinely enjoy his players. He said his obvious warmth has even drawn criticism.

"Sometimes, other Chinese coaches complain to me and tell me 'you're not strict enough'. I ask them 'if she was your daughter, would you be saying the same thing?'" said the former Korean national coach.

"They are young people. They are lazy and sometimes make mistakes. It's important to educate them the right way to become a good player, team member and Chinese national team member."

But Kim admitted he has to show his tough side during training and competition.

"During training, I cannot smile. That's why I always have my sunglasses on," Kim said, smiling.

"I must be strict. Normally, I stay with the team 24 hours a day. After training, I try to be a family member. I have more experience and I'm older than them.

"That's my coaching philosophy: Teach them more knowledge, more skills and more things than other coaches."

'Difficult situation'

In 2009, Kim took over the women's team from Kim Chang-bak, who stayed with the team almost 10 years and led China to fifth place at the 2004 Athens Games and silver at the 2008 Beijing Games.

But some of the team's top veterans retired, leaving a mix of players who were mostly either too young or too old.

Sang-ryul said the previous team had been put together with an eye on the Beijing Games, which led to a lack of development in the reserve teams.

"That put me in very difficult situation," he said. "China had been preparing for more than 10 years just for the Beijing Games, but they did not prepare young players for the future.

"There is now a big gap between young players and old players. The young players don't have much experience, while the ability of the older players is going down. The oldest are in their late 30s, the younger ones are around 19 years old.

"In China, the history of hockey is very short. Before Beijing 2008, we didn't think about developing young players, and that's why we haven't had good results in the last four years.

"After this Olympics, women's hockey will be developed much better. These young players will have grown up after the Olympics. The sport's governing body was aware of the shortage of grassroots after the Beijing Games and put in a lot of effort and built programs for the future. In the next Olympic Games, China will have a much better team."

China is drawn in a tough group at the London Games.

The coach still believes his team can medal if it relies on teamwork.

"It's possible we can try to get the medal. But it's tough," he said. "The team game is different than the individual game. The team game is working together. Players' individual skills or abilities might be lower on a strong team. But if we play as a team, we still could win.

"Two days ago, world No 2 Argentina was beaten by the US. What happened? The US players played a great team game."

chenxiangfeng@chinadaily.com.cn