(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Julian Rip wins Talent of the Year Award in Utrecht
Nederlands
 UTRECHT (Neth.) -
Julian Rip has been chosen Sports Talent of the Year in Utrecht on Wednesday-evening (February 15) during the annual Sportprijs Utrecht (Sports Awards Utrecht).
Last year, Rip played in the Dutch big league for Pickles UVV and won the European Championship-title in Spain with the Netherlands Junior Team.
...Julian Rip...
...Utrecht Talent of the Year...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The Awards in seven categories were handed out at the MediaPlaza of the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht.
The evening was hosted by former intenational hockey-player (221 international games) and current radio-host Tom van 't Hek.
Also nominated for Talent of the Year were Christiaan Hendriksen (judo), Kyra Wapperom (karate) and Rip's teammate at UVV Tijmen Takke, who last year made his debut in the Dutch big league and also was a member of the successful National Junior Team.
Rip was unable to be at the event himself, as he is currently in the USA, studying and playing baseball at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas.
The trophy was picked up by his father Onno Rip, who himself also has played in the Dutch big league for several seasons.
Sports Awards are being handed out in Utrecht since 1971.
It marks the fifth time that an award was handed out to someone in baseball or softball.
In 1997, the women softball-team of UVV won the Team of the Year Award.
In 1999, that award went to the baseball-team of Domstad Dodgers.
In 2000, Cees Hiele of UVV was chosen as Volunteer of the Year.
Baseball-international Danny Rombley won the Sports Man of the Year in 2011.
In that year, Rombley played for UVV, but also won the World Championship-title with the Netherlands Baseball Team.
UVV is an Utrecht-based multi-sports club.
It moved from its playing location in the city of Utrecht to the nearby village of Vleuten in 2006.
Vleuten had been an independent municipality itself through 1954, then became part of the new municipality of Vleuten-De Meern after the merger of several small municipalities.
Since 2000, Vleuten-De Meern (and thus the village of Vleuten) is a neighbourhood of Utrecht.
The presentation of the Utrecht Sports Awards was organized for the third time by Vereniging Sport Utrecht.
The winners are decided by a jury and the audience, who both determine half of the votes.
A surprise winner was the women-team of the Rugbyende Utrechtse Studentes (RUS) (Rugbying Utrecht Women Students), who won the Team of the Year Award for winning their fifth consecutive National Championship-title.
It was expected that the award would go to Kampong (hockey-men), which had captured the title in the Euro Hockey League.
Dafne Schippers (sprinter and heptatlete) won her fourth consecutive Sports Woman of the Year Award, while Jesse Puts (swimming) was Sports Man of the Year.
Other winners were Coach of the Year Herman van den Berg (swimming), Volunteer of the Year Geert-Jan van Dijken (tennis) and Club of the Year SVE (table tennis).
(February 15)
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