Last year was challenging for team, says Alyson Annan after winning FIH Women Coach of the Year 2019 award

2019 was a tough and challenging year for the side, says Dutch women's national team coach Alyson Annan after winning FIH Women Coach of the Year 2019 award.

"I think 2019 for all of us was a challenging year, we learned a lot from and I really look forward to learning again this year 2020," said Annan in a video posted by FIH's official Twitter handle.

This is the third time the Head Coach to the Netherlands women has won the coach of the year award, previously she has also won awards in 2017 and 2018.

Annan thanked everyone for the honour and said that last year the side overcame a big challenge as they won EuroHockey Nations Championship for the 10th time and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"It is a fantastic honour to have won the prize of coach of this year. I just like to thank everyone for their support and I enjoy coaching and love coaching. In 2019 we had an interesting year playing the Pro League and travelling the world and then we were faced with lots of challenges and then European Championships to qualify for the Olympics," she said

Annan stated that for this year is going to be tough for the team as several big tournaments like FIH Hockey Pro League and Olympic Games are lined up.

"I think 2020 will bring us a lot of challenges again combing the Pro League combining with travelling and preparing for the Olympic Games. I think for every team it's going to be a challenging year and would be same for us and I look forward to the challenge and I look forward to doing our best and wish everyone best of luck this year for the Olympic Games," she added.

( With inputs from ANI )