The SCHC women begin Friday morning in Lithuania’s Siauliai the battle for the European Cup Indoor. The 2024 premier league champion has traveled to Eastern Europe with a very young squad and aims to be the third Dutch club to capture the European indoor title. ‘To be honest, I have no idea what to expect exactly,’ said Elzemiek Zandee, who made an important decision in her Orange career two weeks ago.
At 23, Zandee is among the veterans of the selection – a group that is remarkably young this time around. Experienced forces like Ginella Zerbo and Laurien Leurink had to drop out due to work, while striker Jip Dicke had to cancel due to illness.
The team therefore leans on a small core of routine: captain Anna de Geus (25), defender Mariette Boot (23) and goalkeeper Marsha Zwezereijn (28) and Zandee herself. The rest of the team – including Noor Knoop, Julie Smorenburg and Nanieck Mengelberg, are under 20. ‘We do indeed have a young group,’ said Zandee, who is in her sixth season in the main squad at SCHC. ‘It’s up to me to add some maturity to the youthfulness in our team.’
Zandee in action in the semifinals of the NK Zaal against Den Bosch. Photo: Roel Ubels
Zandee finds it difficult to estimate what awaits her with the youngsters from Bilthoven in Siauliai, Lithuania’s third city The names of the opponents in the pool phase – Turkey’s Ege Yildizlari, Czech Slavia Prague and Ukraine’s MSC Sumchanka – do not ring a bell in any case. ‘I have no idea how strong those teams are or how they play. I don’t think that’s super important either. We just have to play our own game.’
The question is also to what extent SCHC manages to play its own game. In the Hoofdklasse Zaal, the composition of the team changed more often than the colors of traffic lights at a busy intersection, making it difficult to create automatisms. Nevertheless, coach Frank Balvers’ team did qualify for the semi-finals, in which Den Bosch was ultimately too strong 4-3.
Zandee: ‘Due to the many changes in the group, this indoor competition did not always go well. Fortunately we have a lot of creativity: quite a few girls have an individual action or can make the difference in passing. Against Den Bosch we played very well, only we were unlucky not to finish off the many chances.’
Orange book closed
That Zandee is playing with SCHC in the hall this weekend is quite remarkable. After all, this year she was with the Oranje Dames in preparation for the Pro League-trip to India, where the Dutch team will play four international matches next week. However, that Orange adventure has quietly come to an end – temporarily or otherwise. National coach Raoul Ehren told her two weeks ago in a personal interview that she is no longer part of the training group.
‘I was already toying with the idea of putting Orange out of my mind myself, but Raoul just beat me to it,’ said Zandee, who played 17 international matches (two goals) between 2022 and 2024 in the FIH Pro League. ‘He sensed very well that at the moment it takes too much energy for me to focus on Orange.’
Elzemiek Zandee in action on behalf of the Orange in the FIH Pro League. Photo: Willem Vernes
Fit on the place
Zandee lost her father unexpectedly four months ago, a loss that logically still dominates her life. Club field hockey offers structure and something to hold on to, but the pressure and stress around the selection moments of the Dutch national team are too much for her at the moment. Ehren also pointed out to Zandee the fierce competition in the midfield of the Dutch national team. At the moment, she doesn’t feel she can fight that athletic battle optimally.
‘I notice that I have been tiptoeing around the Orange for a while now,’ Zandee said. ‘The continuous uncertainty – am I in, am I playing or not? – asks a lot of me physically and mentally. With Orange I would be away from home for a long time this month, which doesn’t feel right at the moment either. I want to spend time with my mother to cope with the loss of my father. It’s very double: the athlete in me wants to go all the way, but the human in me says: not right now, time to pause.
Is the Orange book now definitively closed? Zandee cannot say anything meaningful about that. ‘I’ll see how things go in the coming period. I can now quietly focus on SCHC. Should Raoul need me in June, I will gladly join again if I can. But it could also be that my Orange adventure is over. In any case, I will then look back on a great period.’
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Want to see how SCHC is doing in Lithuania? You can access the live stream of the tournament via the EuroHockey site. For €7.99, you not only watch all the matches of the Women’s European Cup Hall.
by Hockey.nl
