(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Fred Versluis)
 Ferenc Jongejan new Head Coach of Netherlands National Softball Team
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
Ferenc Jongejan is the new Head Coach of the Netherlands National Women's Softball Team, the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB) announced on Wednesday (November 13).
Jongejan succeeds American Coach Connie Clark, who led the team this year.
...Ferenc Jongejan...
...new Head Coach Netherlands Softball Team...
(© Photo: Fred Versluis) |
Late November last year, Jongejan was named Pitching Coach of the Netherlands Softball Team, effective January 1 of this year.
In this position, he succeeded Australian Karen Marr, who had been the Pitching Coach of the Netherlands Team since December 2010, but stepped down in September last year.
On January 31 of this year, Connie Clark was named new Head Coach as the successor of Juni Francisca.
During last years World Championship in Japan, Francisca was put on a non-active status after the team initially started with disappointing results.
Connie Clark and fellow American Michelle Gromacki then led the Netherlands Team during the Super6 in Hoofddorp (Netherlands) in September 2018.
Gromacki also assisted Clark this year.
This year was an important one for the Orange-squad with participations in the European Championship in Ostrava (Czech Republic) and then the European/African Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Vleuten (Netherlands).
Unfortunately, the team was not successful in both events, which took place in July.
In the Czech Republic, the Netherlands dominated during the European Championship.
The team recorded eleven consecutive convincing victories, including a 6-2 win against Italy to reach the Final.
However, on July 6, the team then lost the Final 3-2 against Italy, which captured the title.
Twenty days later, the Netherlands faced Italy again in a deciding game, then during the Olympic Qualifier.
The day before, the Orange Team suffered a costly 5-2 loss against Great Britain.
Despite this loss, the team was still in the race for an Olympic ticket, but in order to do so, it had to win its remaining two games.
On July 26. the Netherlands took an early 4-0 lead in the first inning against Italy.
However, the team was left empty-handed, as Italy came back to win 7-4 and qualify for next years Olympic Games in Japan.
In a press release, KNBSB's Technical Director Tjerk Smeets states:
,,I'm very happy with Ferenc as new Head Coach.
He is the right person to bring this group back to where they belong and that is in the global top-8.
Ferenc not only has the knowledge and abilities, but especially has the drive to do so.''
In the same press release, Ferenc Jongejan said:
,,I'm very happy and honored that the KNBSB has the trust in me to put me in this position.
We now have the challenge to reverse the disappointment of this past Summer into a positive energy and have a successful European Championship coming Summer to capture tickets for the 2021 World Championship.
I'm convinced that with the current group (players and staff) and the program, we can set an important step in the continuation of the development of top softball in the Netherlands.
The players will get a lot of space to develop themselves and at the same time, together with all of us, we will work to strengthen the team collectively.
It is an enormous challenge that Tjerk Smeets has given me, but it is one which I've accepted together with my staff with a lot of energy''.
In June next year, the Netherlands Team will participate in the European Championship.
Ferenc Jongejan is active in women's softball for only three years.
In 2017, he was the Assistant Coach of Nick Braakman of the softball-team of Terrasvogels.
In that year, the team reached the Final of the European Premiere Cup in Haarlem against Bussolengo (Italy), but then was shutout 8-0.
Last year, Jongejan was the Head Coach of Terrasvogels, whom he then led to the Holland Series.
In the best-of-three Final, Terrasvogels lost 2-0 to FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem.
Initially, after completion of last season, it was expected that Jongejan would return this year as Head Coach of Terrasvogels, but shortly before the end of the transfer-period (November 15), it was announced that he had stepped down.
It was then announced that he couldn't be available for the team the entire year and with that, he stepped down.
A few weeks later, he was named Pitching Coach of the Netherlands Team for this year.
Before switching to coaching softball, Jongejan had been the Head Coach of the baseball-team of UVV for four years (2013-2016) in the Dutch big league.
In these years, UVV finished in fifth place the first three seasons, then seventh in 2016.
As a lefthanded pitcher, Ferenc Jongejan played in the Dutch big league for Twins (1998) and Hoofddorp Pioniers (1999-2000).
After the 2000 season, he moved to Neptunus.
He then played professionally for four seasons (2001-2004) in the organization of the Chicago Cubs and reached the Triple-A level in 2003.
In that year, he pitched in 29 games for Iowa Cubs.
In September 2004, during the Play-Offs, Jongejan made his debut in the team of Neptunus with whom he then won the Dutch Championship-title.
In October 2004, he was released by the Cubs.
Shortly thereafter, he retired due to an injury.
Later, he returned as a player, being a first baseman for UVV in the second highest league.
In 2014, while coaching UVV, he played in one game for the team.
Playing for the Netherlands National Baseball Team, Jongejan participated in the Olympic Games of 2000 (Sydney, Australia) and 2004 (Athens, Greece), as well as the 2001 World Championship in Taiwan.
In total, he pitched in 22 games for the National Team, all of them as reliever, including some as closer.
In 2000, Jongejan won the Guus van der Heijden Memorial Trophy for the Best National Team-player under 23.
Jongejan also had been closely involved in Eindhoven-based Bixie Baseball, one of the Baseball Academies in the Netherlands.
(November 13)
|
