NEW DELHI: Hockey India on Tuesday announced the appointment of Dutchman Herman Kruis as the new high performance director.
Kruis will assume the role till September, overseeing the national junior and senior programs of Hockey India, including the Coaches Education Pathway among other tasks.
Kruis has over two decades of coaching experience, and was earlier appointed as coach of Indian men and junior women’s hockey 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 national head coach for the Netherlands indoor women’s hockey team from 2006 to 2008 and he was also the national head coach for the Netherlands outdoor team from 2008 to 2010.
In his most recent stint, he was the national head coach of the Belarus indoor and outdoor team from 2016 to August 2023. Kruis is a certified FIH coach-educator.
Expressing his delight on the appointment, Kruis said, “I am looking forward to this new stint with Hockey India. The Indian teams are on the cusp of creating history and I look forward to utilizing my expertise in helping the teams and Hockey India in achieving their goals for this year.”
