Dutch NT 2021

    Celeste Plak appeared in a podcast a couple of days ago. Some highlights:

    - Things she want to improve in her game; to be able to hit more (sharper) angels and improve blocking skills. And to enjoy the game more. And to improve her tipping game, not just smashing the balls through the court

    - Plak said she was more close to quiting the game than pursuing her career, but talking with a sport psychologist helped a lot

    - She doesn't know what her new role in NT will be like after Lonny's departure. Previously it was being a substitute energy bomb when needed, now she needs to find out again what her role on the court will be

    - One of the reasons she loves to play again is that she plays a new position now. She received a lot of critics on her passing, but is glad she doesn't have to do it anymore and for example her trainings look different too now

    - Several "smaller" things led her to take a break. One of the first moments she remembers is when she won CL final. Everyone was extremely happy and she stood there on the podium without a feeling. Of course smiling for the camera but deep inside she felt nothing. Tokyo Qualification Tournament pulled the trigger. After that she was completely done with everything

    - She's very positive about her future and the team

    - Big goal is to qualify for Paris '24. But it's gonna be very hard

    - She tells about the voluntary charity work she is doing for young girls


    My overal impression: Celeste grew a lot as a person and is now fully motivated to shine again. She has such a nice personality and I hope she will be amazing again this season and in the future. She deserves the best

    And there we are again. Earlier this week Myrthe Schoot was a guest on national radio. The highlights:

    - At the moment she doesn't know if she will try to go to Paris '24. She will decide about that after next year's WCh

    - Most special opponent to play against is Germany, because she knows so many players and coach from them

    - She told about how she experienced everything in beginning of covid

    - They are talking about the last day of TVQ. Myrthe described it as a day that her whole world fell apart. Talking about it on the radio still gets her emotional

    - She decided to join project22 because she likes challenges and thinks is the best way the be on her top next year in the world championships. Being too comfortable in your current position might result in less development, so she decided to make this step, where she can train with best staff and conditions etc.

    - She will not live on campus with the younger talents because after 10 years she finally can live together with her bf :)

    - Interesting thing they mentioned. In her contract with a team in Germany there was a specific clause that if her grandma would pass away, she would be allowed to go home. Imo it's sad that these kind of thinks have to be part of a contract... She said it's always difficult when personal things like weddings and such happens and she can't be there

    - About last ECh. Generally the team could be happy they got 4th place after such good other teams. Realistically they didn't play as good as the are able to, she's not happy with the way they played and a lot of other girls from NT think so too. Also not everyone was in the best physical condition she said

    - Every guest in the program brings an item. Myrthe brought an volleyball from the Rio Olympics. She got it after the lost against China in the semi-final. She was so pissed that she thought, well that ball is gonna be mine now:D:D especially funny because she had to sneak it out since its not allowed to take balls with you

    - Lonneke sent a voice message about their relationship - very cute:flower:Also Maret sent a message

    - With some teammates they talked briefly about the Plak case from men's NT she said. (at that time he didn't make the statement on IG). But whether she knew what the exact reason was he had to leave, she was not gonna share it anyway


    Conclusion: Myrthe Schoot is a very experienced player and she made a well thought choice for this season. I think it will work and she will be great in next years WCh again. Just like Celeste a very nice personality also



    Sorry to bother you with all the details guys, but i always summarize while listening myself otherwise I might forget things :rolll:

    Quote from VolleyOrange

    - Interesting thing they mentioned. In her contract with a team in Germany there was a specific clause that if her grandma would pass away, she would be allowed to go home. Imo it's sad that these kind of thinks have to be part of a contract... She said it's always difficult when personal things like weddings and such happens and she can't be there

    I think this story goes far back to Elles Leferink. She went to Italy at young age when she was a big talent, and during the season her grandmother died. However the club (Matera) didn't allow her to travel home for the funeral and she was very upset. After that season she left Italy and spent the rest of her career in Germany. Here it would be completely unthinkable that a club would not allow a player to travel home for such a situation :white: And yes, it's really sad that it has to be in a contract...

    Nice interviews!


    Only part I don't get is, if schoot really wants to get herself challenged why does she join project 2022?:what: this indeed sounds like definition of comfort zone for an international player

    Anne Buijs about her experiences as a lesbian in volleyball


    Since it's written text I think you can use translator to read the whole article, but some interesting points are:

    - She talks about the situation when she played in Shwerin, her father was the coach and her girlfriend (Lisa Thomsen) was in the team too. They kept it a secret until after the season

    - She tells the volleyball world is a very safe world for people like her. In teams in Italy, Brazil and Germany her teammates where very chill about it. She is open about it and hardly get any negative comments. Since Carol is a pretty famous player in Brazil, they get many nice comments there as well when she posts on social media.

    - In women's volleyball the amount of people who accept is very big. She doesn't know for men's volleyball. She said that half of her team is lesbian so sometimes they play lesbian against straight women volleytennis on trainings:rolll::rolll: and make lots of jokes about it

    - In Turkey it was a different situation when she played for Vakifbank. She was not allowed to talk about her girlfriend there.... Anyway, she preferably didn't want to hide it, but also she realized she is a guest in another culture and it was not up to her to make the rules. She met some Turkish girls who couldn't be open about it, and wishes that would be different. (I remember an earlier interview when she played for Nilufer together with Carol, they were also not allowed to tell that they were a couple)


    You can find the full article here: https://www.volleybal.nl/nieuws/coming_out_day_2021


    I think the interview confirms that volleyball isn't a sport with a lot of hate towards gay people like football etc. but its obviously different in each country.

    The "secret" project has been announced; the Over The Top podcast by Robin de Kruijf, Myrthe Schoot, Maret Grothues and Laura Dijkema.


    "Our new podcast Over de top!

    In this podcast, we as four toplevel volleyball players talk about top sports and share our top experiences from our daily life.

    Garantueed lockerroom juice*"


    Juice = gossip. I'm looking forward to it :saint:



    You can vote for Dutch volleyball player of the year again! Nominees for female player are:

    - Nika Daalderop

    - Robin de Kruijf

    - Anne Buijs

    - Laura Dijkema

    - Raïsa Schoon and Katja Stam (Beach volleyball)


    https://volleybalkrant.us7.lis…2d2f234b3fd&id=74ef2e551c

    Quote from VolleyOrange

    Dutch NT's will wear Mizuno jerseys again from now on. Nevobo made an agreement with them. They were already suppliers for kneepads, socks and shoes. The previous jerseys were from Errea


    Gotta love those shoe sketches!

    As expected Robin de Kruijf again won the Ingrid Visser award for best volleyball player of 2021!:cup:


    https://www.volleybalkrant.nl/…dambrink-grootste-talent/