Netherlands:

Huizen was the only team to tip out of the Tulip Women’s big league last year. After the year at the highest level, there are no fewer than fourteen new faces on the team from the Gooi region. This weekend the relegater was still searching at the Promotion League Cup, where Huizen finished only seventh and won only one game. A return to the big league is therefore still a long way off. And actually not the goal at all this year, either.

‘It is too short-sighted to think that the relegated will have it easier. We are not last year’s team, nor the team that promoted the year before,’ said new coach Joep van der Coelen, Donald Drost’s successor at Huizen. That is clear: only five of his players were also on Huizen’s player list last year, fourteen are new. ‘That’s a lot. I understand that people are watching us and that there are expectations, but you also have to know that most of them didn’t even know each other four weeks ago.’

Gone are facially important players like captain Myrthe van Kesteren, top talent Sam Luttmer, rock in the surf Daphne Koolhaas and dribbler Lynn Vasterink. They will be active at the highest level next season. Van Kesteren and Koolhaas go to Rotterdam, Luttmer is now with Pinoké, Vasterink left for Oranje-Rood. Their old team had no soft landing on Saturday, on field 3 of Victoria, at the practice tournament against promoter HBS. After an equal game, the underdog won 1-0.

Depressed faces of Jess Lardant and Amina Addou. Things are not going well for Huizen. Photo: Rob Römer

‘Talking, a lot of talking. That’s where the secret is now,’ says Van der Coelen. But it remains quiet, the players also realize. On that same Saturday, Huizen also played Ring Pass, which totally overwhelmed the relegated team.A tangle goal made it 1-0 and although the ladies from Delft also strung together penalties and chances after that, Huizen managed to equalize deep in the second half from a well-aimed backhand by Nina Copal. Like Van der Coelen, she was active at Were Di last season.

With depressed faces and their eyes fixed on the ground, the ladies stand in a circle at the end of day one. ‘But I do think we took a step right away,’ Van der Coelen analyzed. ‘I thought we were better that second game, for what it’s worth. This tournament … They are not even glorified practice games, they are practice games and we are happy with that. You might not schedule them otherwise, just because it is so close to the start of the league. Now you can take a look around anyway.

I do have the feeling that people expect a lot from us. Huizen newcomer Amina Addou

So does Amina Addou (19). The timid teenager came over from Amsterdam. ‘It’s a bit of a step back, but a good step for me. I didn’t play much, in the big league. I want to become more confident and for that I just need the experience.’ It helps that she is not the only newcomer. ‘I do feel that people expect a lot from us, other teams from the promotion league for example. You soon have that when you are the relegated club, but we all still have to find our feet a bit.’

Amina Addou came over from Amsterdam. Photo: Rob Römer

Van der Coelen is not there to protect youngsters like Addou, he says. ‘We throw them in the deep end right away. Yes, she comes from Amsterdam, but actually from youth huh. Now she is really getting into big-man field hockey. That’s tough. You can circle around it a lot, but that doesn’t help anyone. I am sure she will develop very quickly.’

Newcomers from South Africa, Namibia and Chile

Huizen has brought in more experience in the form of Jess Lardant. The South African played three World Cups with the national indoor team, and also has a Belgian passport, so the step could be made without too much paperwork. ‘Of course the level of field hockey here is many times higher,’ says Lardant. She plays at center back, right next to left back Addou, ‘I’ve lived in South Africa all my life, but my boyfriend plays at Amsterdam (Mustapha Cassiem, ed.) and I’m 27, so I thought, if I don’t take the step now, I never will.’

She reported to Huizen’s open training sessions and immediately secured her spot. ‘It took some shifting. When I came to that training I heard from almost everyone: ‘this is my last time here’. Then I thought: oh, gosh. But it is refreshing to have such a new group together.

South African Jess Lardant plays central back for Huizen. Photo: Rob Römer

That open outlook is exactly what Van der Coelen was looking for. ‘Indeed, she came in a bit of a blow, but immediately showed herself to be a positivo. She can sometimes grumble or put someone in their place, but she is also a bit of the clown of the team, and we are going to need that.’ Thanks to Lardant, Eliza Westland (Australia), Kiana Cormack (Namibia) and Josefina Martines Mardones (Chile) coach Huizen bilingually. Lardant: “I understand most of the terms he calls from the side now. I also speak a little African, which is very similar to Dutch. But every now and then we have to remind the staff to discuss certain things in English.’

‘Now nothing to look for in the big league’

On Sunday, a 3-1 win over Victoria. ‘I understand that ‘having a nice year’ is coach-talk,’ grins Van der Coelen, asked about his team’s goal next season. ‘We haven’t really formulated it yet, but promotion is definitely not going to be it. There is, with this preparation, no reason to. The big league isn’t necessarily fun either is it? We have nothing to look for there at the moment. I want to build a stable team with players who will not all fly out after a year.

The main goal is to set an example for the club. ‘We can sit on an ivory tower, but we are part of the club just like everyone else. We all started playing field hockey once because it’s fun. It has to stay that way. Suppose you are a six-year-old girl, and your idols from Ladies 1 come off the field week in and week out with a long face, do you want to play field hockey in Ladies 1 when you grow up?’