Turning pain into first-rushing art: Wegnez's way

One of the most frightening tasks in a dangerous sport like hockey is that of defending penalty corners. Just watch defenders trying to guard their goal against a ball coming in at a thunderous speed of approximately 130 kmph around 14 metres out. Of course, there’s protection in terms of face mask, mouth, abdominal and shin guards and gloves but it’s still terrifying trying to stop a missile that can shatter bones.

It’s even more vicious for the first-rusher, whose job is to run into the speeding ball and try subverting it. Every attempt at it is fraught with extreme risk because if the ball — coming with great speed, power and shorter distance — makes contact with body, pain is guaranteed. There’s no turning back too once committed for the run off the goal-line.

For Belgium’s Victor Wegnez, who has seen plenty of dangers from childhood, it’s a piece of cake. The 27-year-old, perhaps the best first-rusher in the world, doesn’t flinch one bit. After donning the protective equipment, he’s off the goal-line like a sprinter off the starting blocks.

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He runs just a fraction slower than the speed of the ball that’s been pushed, shows incredible awareness in judging which line of shot the drag-flicker is about to take, and smothers it. He does miss some, but by and large, finding a way past him is a tough job for the drag-flickers. Stunningly, it’s the drag-flickers who are in possession of the trigger.

“I never complain about the pain and getting hit by the ball,” says the photogenic Wegnez, sporting a smile on his face. “It's also a job I have to do to be in the team. It's not something that everybody can do. You just need to be brave and accept that the ball is going to hit you and it's going to be painful. I am pretty proud to take all those balls because it means I am helping the team. I think it's a part of who I am. I used to live in an environment that's not really nice, made of violence and other stuff.”

Wegnez, yet to concede a goal from the seven penalty corners he’s faced, was born and raised in Moleenbeek, one of the most notorious regions in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The municipality has been in the news for all the wrong reasons after reports said that at least four terrorists involved in the Paris November 2015 attack lived in Moleenbeek.

In an article soon after the attack, this is how English daily Guardian described the city. “Molenbeek is the source of the highest concentration in Europe of jihadi foreign fighters going to fight in Syria and Iraq and returning battle-hardened and determined to take their fight to the capitals of Europe.”

Further details in the article show hard life can be there.

Apart from being raised in a rough neighbourhood, another factor that made Wegnez, who won the World Cup here in Bhubaneswar in 2018 and followed that up with the Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, such a tough cookie is a difficult childhood. He shared a strained relationship with his father and always had to fight, be it the streets or at home, to either defend himself or get things his way.

“My dad used to be really aggressive. He didn't help. But in the end, I am thankful for all those things because they made me who I am. If I didn't have my youth, maybe I wouldn't be talking to you. I wouldn't change my childhood. Of course, it's sad to not have a good relationship with your parents but so be it,” the Wegnez says with no hint of regret.

“Now that I am an adult, I see it like this. When I was young, being at home was dealing with difficulty because you were entering a space you didn't want to be in and when I was in hockey, I was away from family and was really doing something I love. If I did something out of what my father wanted, it's a little bit of a problem. But hockey changed my life and happy to have made my career in it.”

Wegnez didn’t hold back when queried about his current relationship with his father. “I don't see him often. He went with another woman to France. I used to see my mom. She is French but living in Belgium. My father is Belgian but he is in France. It's strange but I see my father once a year or once in two years but now we are fine because I spoke to him. I tell him I don't get it, I don't understand why you were like this. And I think there is no excuse for what he did. So be it. I am not going to live in the past.”

The goal now for Wegnez is to ensure Belgium retain the World Cup. “It's the aim of the team. Of course, you aim to win tournaments for your country. When you do it, you still need to have that little push inside you to do it again. I think the most difficult thing in sport is to stay at the top. Obviously, everybody wants to beat us now. Yeah. I hope we are going to be world champions again. But it's going to be tough.”