Netherlands:

Tijmen Reyenga (25) is one of those players you can recognize on the field by a fine dribble or a splitting backhand pass. A defender with guts and a playful style, who sometimes still looks like one of the youngest in the selection. At this European Championship, he has been given a new role: as the second cornerman of the team, he gets to push when Jip Janssen is not on the field.

‘That takes some getting used to,’ Reyenga says with a laugh. But it was the same at the last European Championship. I still have to gain a lot of rhythm and especially experience. Still, I think it’s great that I get to do it already. I just assume that I will make another goaltalt,’ he grinned.

That could have happened after about ten minutes against the Belgians. Indeed, Reyenga was inside the lines when the Orange got the very first corner of the game. A brief glance toward the dugout was enough: it was his turn. His first push landed on the stick of outrunner Victor Wegnez, but from the rebound he got another chance. It landed on the belly of goalie Loic van Doren, after which the ball fell into the stick of Terrance Pieters. He hit the ball: 1-0 for the Netherlands and an assist for Reyenga.

Once Janssen is not in, Reyenga thinks too much

‘At that first corner I was thinking too much,’ he confessed. ‘All sorts of things were shooting through my head: what am I going to do, where am I going to push… I get so little turn that the grinding started. But really I just have to stay sober and do my thing. That’s a lesson for next time. He laughs. Is Jip Janssen not in it for once, the defender is thinking too long. ‘Can I have a go…,’ he laughs. ‘Haha. I did think for a moment: yes, Jip is not in it. Good for my experience. But Jip is our main corner and he really always will be.’

Photo: Willem Vernes

Reyenga would have been close to not pushing corners at all. During the trip to Australia (for a training camp and Pro League matches) early this year, the staff decided to put his corners on the back burner. ‘There was no progression and it just wasn’t there,’ he looks back.

‘Jeroen Delmée and Eric Verboom also gave me a wake-up call: they missed the old Tijmen. Eric always called me Random Runner, named after those slot machines in a casino. Someone who popped up everywhere, without thinking.’ So a slot machine where you toss in a coin, without knowing what comes out – but always hopeful. ‘I was always just shitty about things, but had become too solid, too preoccupied with my defensive duels. I was boring.’

I was always just shitting on things, but had become too solid, too preoccupied with my defensive duels. I was boring. Tijmen Reyenga

Still, he did not resign himself to the Orange staff’s decision. ‘I didn’t listen and secretly continued training. At Oranje-Rood they needed me as a pusher, so I could keep working with Toon Siepman.’ So together with the penalty corner guru he refined his technique without anyone knowing. And with success: his corner got a little better again. ‘I’m not as good as a Timo Boers or Pepijn van der Heijden, but I think it’s cool that I’m still allowed to fill in for the national team. And who knows… In a few years. Maybe my corner will be just as good as Jip’s. Or better, that I can push earlier. But I don’t believe that, haha. But I keep dreaming.

An expanded field hockey package

That Reyenga was designated second choice at the head of the circle had everything to do with the fact that Boers and Van der Heijden did not make the European Championship selection. A stroke of luck for Reyenga, who is especially happy that he now has something more in his field hockey package. A collection of qualities through which he hopes not to miss another selection. No one can ignore the defender from Brabant anymore. Because after the World Cup and European Championship in 2023, the role as reserve at the Olympics in Paris was a painful one.

The push of Tijmen Reyenga. Photo: Willem Vernes

‘Of course it was a disappointment that I was not a base player,’ says Reyenga. ‘But I still got something nice out of it. I played two games and even scored,’ he looks back. The Olympics provided him with unexpected highlights. For example, after his return he was honored at FC Den Bosch, the club where he has had a season ticket for years. “I am there every Friday with friends in the supporters’ box. And when I can’t, like last weekend, I keep a very close eye on my phone. I think 99 percent of the people in the stadium during my congratulations had no idea who I was, but it was great to stand there.’

A tattoo on his upper arm

And with it came a lasting memory. A tattoo of the Olympic rings now adorns the back of his upper arm. ‘I had always said I would get one when I went to the Games. I hesitated for a while, because I was only a reserve. But after two games and a goal I felt it was okay.’

But with or without a tattoo or honorable mention, Reyenga is especially happy to be back there like the old Tijmen. ‘I’m making my actions again and my passing is just tight again. A little freewheeling is who I am and what graces me. ‘Not thinking, but doing,’ as with his corner. ‘I always have to hold on to that,’ he tells himself. ‘Even if soon I don’t have 66 but 166 international games.’ He laughs. ‘Instead of always just going full out, in the future I’ll probably weigh up more often when to push forward and when to take a breather. Not always just go, go, go.’

Photo: Willem Vernes