Hockey India appoints Herman Kruis as high performance director

New Delhi: Hockey India (HI) on Tuesday announced the appointment of Herman Kruis as the new high performance director with the Dutchman serving in the position till September.

He will oversee the national junior and senior programmes of HI, including the coaches' education pathway among other tasks, an HI release said.

Kruis, who is from the Netherlands, has over two decades of coaching experience, and was earlier appointed as coach of Indian men and junior women's teams to oversee their preparations for the FIH Men's Junior World Cup and FIH Women's Junior World Cup respectively.

In his vast coaching experience, Kruis has worked with Den Bosch ladies a club based out of the Netherlands as their head coach and during his tenure the team won the European Cup eight times in a row.

He was also the head coach for the Netherlands indoor women's hockey team from 2006 to 2008.

In his most recent stint, he was the chief coach of the Belarus indoor and outdoor team from 2016 to August 2023.

Kruis is a certified FIH coach-educator.

"He will oversee the various programmes run by Hockey India including the junior and senior programmes," said HI president Dilip Tirkey.

Expressing his delight on his appointment, Kruis said, "The Indian teams are on the cusp of creating history and I look forward to utilising my expertise in helping the teams and Hockey India in achieving their goals for this year."