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Indervir Grewal
Tribune News Service
Bhubaneswar, December 9
Arthur van Doren’s eyes were lit up. He wasn’t excited; in fact, he had just been through a series of interviews. He wasn’t agitated either. His words flowed swiftly but his manner was relaxed. His wet hair — a big Elvis-inspired tuft — and bathroom slippers suggested he had had a bath not too long ago. But van Doren’s eyes were lit up — it was easy to see why. The Belgians’ mind was switched on. His central role in the national team needs the Belgian to keep his mind switched on at all times on the field.
Van Doren is the heart in Belgium’s defence and the vision in attack. As the sweeper — or libero, or free defender (different names, same position) — van Doren stays just ahead of his defenders. He keeps the defensive structure in order and his teammates awake and ticking. He makes interceptions, picks up loose balls, gets in tackles, and finds the time to launch long balls into the opposition’s third, putting his forwards in “goalscoring positions”. Phew! No wonder van Doren has a busy mind, one of the busiest in the world of hockey. At such a young age, it is also amongst the best. The best, in fact, if you go by the awards. For the last two years, the 24-year-old has been FIH’s best player — best youngster in 2016 and the best player in 2017.
Free man
Like all great minds, van Doren doesn’t like to be bound in. He likes to keep moving, wants even more on his plate, and loves his freedom on the pitch.
“I like this position, I like the freedom it gives me,” van Doren said. “I like that I can move with the ball and find myself spaces to move forward or find longer passes to the forwards and put them in scoring positions. I love the fact that I can help out without the ball, wherever there is trouble, and make a lot of tackles and be involved in a lot of action. It’s a position that suits me, that’s why I have grown in it.”
Van Doren’s exceptional hockey career didn’t have an exceptional beginning. “Hockey is a family sport, it was the same for me,” van Doren said. “My uncle played hockey, my father also played. They gave me a hockey stick one day when I was five years old and I never let go of it since.”
“I started my hockey at the KHC Dragons (club in Brasschaat). Played there till last year. This year, I shifted to HC Bloemendaal in the Netherlands,” he said.
Lazy boy
Van Doren’s hockey life was not so hectic when he started out. He started out as a central striker, but as is generally expected of the more intelligent trainees, van Doren was not the hardest worker. “I was a pretty lazy central striker, always wanted to score. I just stayed in the circle, never defended,” van Doren said. “I think as retribution, they put me in the midfield once to make me defend more. That went pretty well. I won a lot of balls, got a lot of tackles in. So I stayed in the midfield. Through the youth, I played in the central midfield position,” he added. “Through the years, I developed different skills to play in different positions. So, at one point someone said… it was when we shifted from the small field to the full-sized one, there were more players on the field, and the free defender’s position came up. Someone said, ‘I want you to play there, you would do well’ and I never left this position,” he added.
Man of many pieces
If playing as a midfielder brought work ethic to his game, the switch to sweeper’s position helped him discover more hidden secrets of his personality. The position demanded him to constantly be on the move, read the game on the go and adapt quickly. He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and as the sweeper, had the “best view” on the hockey field.
Van Doren doesn’t have any idol but believes in picking the best aspects out of every player and imbibing that into his own game. “I was 17 when I came into the national team, so, I could learn from the best,” he said. Whom did he learn his passing ability from? “I always sort of had the passing awareness. Always had the feeling where to pass, how people would run or react,” van Doren said.
There’s no guessing which role, between attacking or defending, van Doren likes more. “Attacking,” pat comes the answer.
The leader
Van Doren is a conspicuous figure on the field for his constant screaming and gesturing. The expressiveness didn’t come naturally. “Growing up, I was quieter. But I had to develop it because it is a requirement of the position,” said van Doren. His job is hard on his throat. “I get hoarse, especially here, with all the noise in the Kalinga Stadium,” he said. A shy person in his younger days, van Doren has had to develop his leadership skills as well.
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