Feature: Hockeyroos legend Annan sees China girls grow after "fruitful" matches on hometown pitch

China's head coach Alyson Annan (bottom C) speaks with players after the FIH Hockey Pro League women's competition match between China and Germany in Sydney, Australia, Feb. 11, 2023. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

China's women's national field hockey head coach Alyson Annan sees potential and growth in her players.

SYDNEY, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- For former Australian player Alyson Annan, the Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Center always holds a special spot in her heart.

Back in 2000, it was on this pitch that Annan and her teammates, wearing green and gold, beat Argentina 3-1 to take the Olympic gold in women's field hockey in front of their home crowds.

In the center's Grand Stand, three out of five huge photographs hung on the wall feature the then 27-year-old Annan during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, capturing the moments of her jump for joy over the victory, a celebration with her team on the top of the podium and how she avoided her opponent's desperate attempt on the run of play.

More than two decades later, the star shining in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame returned to her hometown pitch again, but this time, she wore a different color and had a new title - head coach of China's women's national field hockey team.

"This is where I won Olympic gold on this pitch. It's also special for the Chinese [women's field hockey] team because it was their first time trying to play the Olympic Games here. So it holds a special place for us all," Annan said.

From Feb. 10 to Feb. 14, the Hockey Center saw team China, accompanied by their Australian coach, battle through four contests for more points in the 2022-23 FIH Pro League Season.

Head coach of China Alyson Annan looks on during the 2022-2023 FIH Hockey Pro League women's match between China and Germany in Sydney, Australia, Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)

Though China suffered two defeats each to the world's top-five powerhouses Australia and Germany, Annan didn't take the losses as a failure.

"Loss is just a scoreboard thing. Tonight we lost 3-0 to Germany, but we learned a lot. And that's winning," Annan told Xinhua on Tuesday. "We're not scoreboard journalists. I look at what we do and I look at what we can do better. But I also look at what we're very good at," she said.

In eyes of the Australian coach, the games have been "fruitful" for the Chinese team to play against No. 3 and No. 4, and the girls have shown the world that they can play good hockey.

Taking the baton in May last year, Annan found that the players' learning capabilities are incredible.

"They want to learn, they're interested, they're curious, and their ability to put it out into the field, get information, and then use it straightaway is really impressive. That means that we can grow and we can make a lot of progress very quickly," she said.

But learning to improve from No. 10 to a higher standing not only involves words, and footage-watching but also entails experience.

"In our second match against Australia, we were 2-0 up with nine minutes to play and we got a yellow card and we didn't manage that very well... Many conceptual things and game management are what we need to learn. But let us learn through experience," said Annan.

To see the Chinese players kick off their new season at Sydney and have over 40 games to play before the Asian Games makes Annan excited to see how far they will advance in the coming months.

"The games have taught the girls that international hockey is like a real level up, the speed is different, and they're not used to that yet. We're going away with some really good things and some good lessons. And it's not a shame to go away from here with two points," said the coach.

When reviewing the team's performance over the past five days, Annan often underlined the progress, potential and growth of her Chinese players.

Dan Wen (R) of China competes with Lorenz Nike of Germany during the 2022-2023 FIH Hockey Pro League women's match between China and Germany in Sydney, Australia, Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)

As a mild person, Annan sticks to "always be kind" as her coaching creed. Instead of wielding criticism, she prefers to give positive and precise feedback on what they are good at and what they are not.

"Because when you hear a lot, you're going to do what you hear. So if you continually say 'you're not good at something', that's what you're hearing, and that's what automatically gets done," Annan said.

Starting to play field hockey at the age of 10 and etching her name in Australia's field hockey history by scoring unmatched 166 career goals for her country, Annan noted that the experience of being a player helps her as a coach to put herself in the athletes' shoes, as she had faced same situations before.

"I understand completely that playing four games in five days is almost an impossible task from where we've come from, and we did well," said Annan. "So you know those sorts of things or different things that happened on the field. If you've experienced it before, it's much easier to communicate that with the players."

With her face covered under a red cap, Annan was also busy switching her language mode between English and Chinese. Despite her Chinese assistant could simultaneously pass her instruction to players on the field, the coach was often seen calling out their Chinese names on the bench area, while in the next minutes, talking to the referees in English.

Both Annan and the Chinese players have been putting effort into learning each other's languages for better communication. While the girls are having English lessons and are encouraged to have their first-ever English interviews, Annan also has a strong desire to learn more Chinese, as she can have more small conversations with each player in the future.

There are two bracelets on her right wrist - one is a gift from her Chinese colleague, and she bought the other one at a local temple during the team's training in China's Guangdong Province.

The Australian coach cherishes her bond with the Chinese team and wants to send the girls onto the pitch of the Asian Games and even the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

"It's an exciting group of players. And I think they've got a lot of potential. So it was potential in the team and the desire for China to win medals was the reason why I wanted to take this job," said Annan, who led the Netherlands team to a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil and a gold medal at Tokyo 2020.

On Tuesday night, Annan waved goodbye to her familiar Hockey Center in Sydney, ready to hit the road with the Chinese team to the National Hockey Stadium in Wellington. China, New Zealand and the United States will square off there from Feb. 18 to Feb. 26.

"I think next week will be a different story," said Annan.