Young female hockey players learn ropes under calm leadership at maiden Olympics

GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb. 20 (Yonhap) -- With nearly a dozen teenagers on hand, South Korean women's hockey suffered some growing pain as it went up against some tough competition at their maiden Olympic Games here this month. And head coach Sarah Murray, who took over South Korea in 2014 and ended up coaching the combined Korean team at PyeongChang 2018, showed the kind of calm leadership perfectly suited for this group of athletes. Murray's original South Korean team of 23 players had 10 teenagers, and they were joined by 12 North Koreans, all over 20, just before the Olympics. And she said she believes giving her young corps an Olympic experience at this point in their career is more important than scoring goals or winning games. "Our 16-year-olds, by the time of the next Olympics, will be 20. Giving them this experience this early on is going to be great for the foundation of our national team," she said. "I don't think we're going to change a lot of the players. We have a really young, good foundation." Under Murray's tutelage, South Korea has advanced to the third-highest level of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women's World Championship, Division I Group B, and has held its own at PyeongChang 2018 against top-10 nations after stumbling out of the gate. "Four years ago, I could have never even imagined our team would be competitive here," Murray said, adding that the players' stated objective changed from "doing the best and having no regrets at the Olympics" to "advancing out of our division at the Olympics." While Korea fell well short of that goal, Murray still saw a bright future ahead for the sport in the country. "I think young kids will watch us and get interested in hockey," she said. "Hockey is a fun sport. It's fast. It's creative. And I think there's a lot of potential for the sport to grow in Asia." The issue of combining the two Korean teams only weeks before the Olympics became a hotly debated topic, but standing in the center of the storm, Murray remained a picture of calm. Her leadership has also been lauded by the Canadian women's head coach Laura Schuler, who, as a former coach for Murray at the University of Minnesota Duluth, said Murray was just the person to handle the stressful situation surrounding the joint team. "That's amazing. For her to say that, it means a lot," Murray said. "I don't know if I was the most prepared person. We just did the best in a tough situation. My organization has been very supportive of me and all my decisions. It's been a group effort." And having gone through the Olympics once, Murray should be even better prepared to handle the stress or distractions the next time, should the combined team compete in the next Olympics. IIHF President Rene Fasel said Monday he was considering keeping the Koreas together for Beijing 2022. "Right now, we are already thinking about trying to continue," he said. "So now we have to go to the IOC and discuss it with North Korea. I think it would be a very good operation to still keep the joint team in the Beijing Olympics and have this unified team as a message of peace." jeeho@yna.co.kr (END)