Jeff MacLeod has been the new man behind the gang for the German women's national team for around two months. A joint training course has already been completed and the first tournament of the new season is coming up soon. Time to talk to the 52-year-old about his impressions of the past few weeks and his next goals.
The first training sessions in your new position as head coach are behind you, what is your conclusion?
Jeff MacLeod: "Some of the players haven't been on the ice since April, but they've really put their all back into it. Everyone has a positive attitude and a great interest in developing further. Our collaboration didn't just start recently. We've been in contact for several weeks and communicate a lot with each other, which is very important for all of us. This allows us to get a good impression of the team, a feel for what's already working well and what still needs to be worked on. We all have a common goal of developing further and getting better."
You already know the team from your work as an assistant coach – what advantages does that bring?
Jeff MacLeod: “It always makes work easier when you already know the players. Both for me, the entire staff and also for the athletes themselves. So no one has any major fears that everything will suddenly change. But there are also players who I have only gotten to know in the last few weeks, but that's not a problem either. We immediately started talking and agreed that we would work hard, but that they shouldn't put any mental pressure on themselves. We were able to implement this really well in our first training sessions together, during the course in mid-July. But the most important thing for me is that we always show each other respect.
Looking at the status quo – what will you keep and what would you like to change in the future?
Jeff MacLeod: “What’s most important to us is that everyone goes about it with a positive attitude. The coaching staff will look at what type of players we have in the squad, what skills we are working on and where we need to improve. Of course, we also have personal conversations with the athletes to gain further insights. We deliberately left out tactical details in the last training sessions, so we will deal with that at the next training course in August. However, the coaches will not alone make the decisions and then impose a game system on the team - we will also discuss this intensively with the players. You have to be comfortable with it. You can only achieve top performance if you feel good.”
The first acid test is coming up in August at the 4-nation tournament (SUI, GER, HUN, FRA) in Switzerland (August 24-26.8.2023, XNUMX) - what do you have planned for it?
Jeff MacLeod: “First and foremost, of course, we always want to be successful and win our games. We have various interim goals between now and the next Women's World Cup. Until then, we would like to perfect ourselves and gradually increase our performance. For the 4-nation tournament in August we first want to introduce a few smaller things. There won't be any big changes, but rather optimizations, for example in forechecking and the special teams. Then we will see what effect we can achieve at international level and what we need to work more on in the coming weeks. “Our main goal for the tournament is to give all players enough ice time so that they can gain self-confidence and have space for personal development.”
Have you already settled into your new position as women's national coach?
Jeff MacLeod: "Yes, it feels really great. The positive attitude and willingness to work hard are noticeable everywhere. Both the players and the entire staff are here because they love ice hockey. There is a great interest in learning and being successful. I was integrated very well from the start and there was always someone available to answer any questions I had. So I definitely had a good start."