Finally back to playing international matches!
After Paris, things have been relatively quiet in terms of competitions. The club season started in October, and this year I decided to play only in the Netherlands. After two great seasons in England (where I had an amazing time!), it felt like the right moment to take things a bit slower as I began my master’s program. So over the past few months, I’ve mostly stayed in the Netherlands, which meant less time spent traveling. Until this month…!
Although I appreciated the “rest,” this month reminded me just how fun it is to play international matches again. We kicked things off with a training camp with the national women’s team in England, where we played three friendly matches against the English women’s team. Since we’ve had a new coach starting January 2025, this trip was mainly about “seeing where we stand.” It felt great to go into these matches with a relaxed mindset, especially after the intense pressure of the Paralympics in Paris. As a team, we were really looking forward to playing again. After all, just training can get a bit boring sometimes.
What made it even more special for me was that the matches were held in Loughborough, the place where I played for the past two years. It felt like coming home, and once again it hit me: I really do miss playing international matches abroad.
The three games against GB were pure joy. Joy to be back on the field together, joy to compete against another women’s team, joy to experience how the dynamics are shaping up under the new coach, joy to see how we’ve grown as a team and I could go on. Did everything go perfectly? Definitely not! But we kept playing as one team, and that’s what matters most right now. With three wins under our belt and plenty of areas to improve, we’ve got a lot of work ahead in training. The European Championship will take place in Bosnia this October, which gives us a long summer to prepare, and of course, we’ll be aiming to defend that title.
On top of that, I just got back from the EuroCup Qualifiers in Sardinia, a European tournament for club teams. With my current club, the Langstraat Shooters, we competed to qualify for next season’s EuroCup. In this competition, men and women play together, which means I get to go head-to-head with the men. Love it. We were in a group of five teams, with only the top team qualifying. With three wins and one loss, we unfortunately finished second and just missed out. But that didn’t spoil the fun, once again I realized: international matches really are the most exciting. New opponents, new tactics, new challenges, you name it. Amazing opportunities to grow both as a player and as a team.
