Preparing for a European Championship: What does that look like?

Being a top athlete has always felt completely normal to me. Sometimes I forget how different it is from having a regular 9-to-5 job. That’s why I thought it would be fun to share with you what my weeks currently look like and what it means to prepare for a major tournament.

Most major championships are held in the summer, which is ideal. The club season typically ends in May, so you can then shift your focus fully to the national team. Normally, part of our team is still abroad, others train with talent programs, and some follow individual schedules with their clubs in the Netherlands. The great thing about a summer of preparation is that everyone is in the same place. There are no distractions from club obligations or matches, so we can really focus on fine-tuning everything together.

This year, however, the European Championship will take place in October, slightly later than usual. That’s why we officially kicked off our preparation at the end of July, giving us ten full weeks to work hard as a team. But what exactly does that involve?

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we train together. Each of those days includes two two-hour indoor training sessions. We focus on all kinds of aspects: tactics, shooting, technique, and conditioning. On top of that, we also do two strength sessions and at least one cardio session each week. That adds up to six days of training per week.

We also have several training camps planned where we’ll play practice matches. Typically, that means one training and one match per day. This summer we’ll be traveling to Germany and Italy for camps, and we’ll also play matches at our home base in Papendal. Personally, I love playing matches even more than training, so this part of the preparation is always my favorite.

It’s going to be an intense summer, lots of training and travel, so recovery becomes extra important. For me, it’s also a bit of an adjustment. I just finished a full-time internship, working 40 hours a week. I trained as much as I could during that time, but more than 10 hours a week was almost impossible. Now, my training load will be around 16 to 20 hours per week, but without the internship. In a way, it feels like an active vacation. No joke though: recovery happens during rest, and I’m really glad I can now focus fully on training and recovery, without school, internship, or club obligations. Getting better together as a team, sharpening the details, and hopefully showing in October just how good we really are!