A son with a familiar surname has a regret

Seve van Ass

Six months ago, Seve van Ass was looking forward to the prospect of scoring against his father’s side in their own backyard. But Paul van Ass’s sudden departure as India coach dampened his son’s plans.

Seve was on target in Holland’s second match of the World League Finals here against Argentina on Saturday, scoring his side’s second goal in the 3-2 win. The 23-year-old said it was unfortunate that his father was no more the coach of India but insisted it was a subject that wasn’t discussed at the Van Ass household.

“It was something he did not discuss. I was away with the national team anyway so I did not talk to him about it. But it would have been great if he was here,” Seve said.

Van Ass, who guided Holland to a silver medal finish at the London Olympics, was appointed India coach earlier this year.

However, he did not return to the country after falling out with Hockey India president Narinder Batra during the World League semifinals in Antwerp in July-August this year. Seve said he was hoping to play against a team coached by his father, having made his international debut under him with Holland. “I was looking forward to playing against his team. It would have been awesome to score a goal against a team coached by my father and in India. Unfortunately, that won’t happen now,” Seve said.

The forward said his father did not share any ‘inside details’ of the team, but stressed that India’s new playing style favoured Holland. “He (Paul) never discussed anything about the team at home so it’s not like I have some inside details about the players,” he laughs.

“But I have seen in the last few months that India are more structurally organised and do not play open, counter-attacking hockey. When they played attacking hockey, we were not comfortable. But I feel we can control them now.”