(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Fred Versluis)
 Roster Netherlands Softball Team anounced for World Games
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
The roster of the Netherlands Softball Team for the upcoming World Games was announced on Tuesday (August 5).
The twelfth edition of the global multi-sport event opens on August 7 and will be organized in Chengdu (China).
The team travels to China coming Saturday.
Last weekend, the best-of-five Play-Offs ended in the Dutch big league.
Reigning champion SanTwee Olympia Haarlem and Sparks Haarlem respectively eliminated Roef! and Neptunus.
The two winners will face each other in the best-of-five Holland Series, which begins on September 20.
Until then, there will be no activities in the highest league.
In this almost 7-week span, the Netherlands Team will participate in the upcoming World Games in China and the European Championship (September 7-13) in Czechia.
In between (August 25-30), four Dutch clubs will participate in European Cup-tournaments.
Olympia Haarlen and Sparks Haarlem will participate in the European Premier Cup in Italy, Roef! in the Cup Winners Cup in France and Tex Town Tigers in the European Cup on its home-site in Enschede.
In the World Games, which are held every four years, sports and sporting disciplines are contested that are not in the Olympic Games.
This includes sports that had been Olympic in the past, or are scheduled to return.
Softball will return to the Olympic Games in 2028 when the event will be held in Los Angeles, California (USA).
Baseball also will be back on the Olympic Program in 2028.
The previous World Games was scheduled for 2021, but was postponed one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event then was held in 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama (USA).
...Saskia Kosterink...
(© Photo: Fred Versluis) |
The softball-tournament begins on Wednesday, August 13 and ends five days later on the 17th on what also will be the closing day of the World Games.
From August 6-10, there also is a men softball-tournament, which begins one day before the official opening day of the event.
Another sport that begins one day early is floorball.
Softball is one of 34 sports (253 events) that will be played in Chengdu.
Some 4,000 athletes from 118 countries will participate.
The Netherlands will participate with 111 athletes in 18 sports.
Besides softball, the Netherlands also participates in archery, beach handball, billiards, canoe sports, dancesport, duathlon, gymnastics, ju-jitsu, karate, kickboxing, korfball, lifesaving, powerlifting, sambo, speed skating, tug of war and wakeboarding.
Softball was on the World Games Program five times before.
The first time was in 1981 during the first edition in Santa Clara, California (USA).
Softball then also was part of the World Games in 1985 (London, England, United Kingdom), 2009 (Kaohsiung, Taiwan), 2013 (Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia) and in 2022 (Birmingham, Alabama, USA).
Men softball was also part of the World Games in 1981, as was baseball.
The next World Games will be organized in 2029 in Karlsruhe (Germany).
That will mark the first time that the event will be held in a city for a second time.
Karlsruhe also was the host in 1989 when the city was part of what then was West-Germany.
The Netherlands organized the World Games in 1993 when The Hague was the host-city.
The Netherlands participates for the second time in the World Games.
The first time was in 1985 in London.
Back then, the games were played at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.
Also participating then were Belgium, Chinese Taipei, Japan and the USA.
The Orange-squad, then led by Head Coach Don Wedman, captured the bronze medal, finishing behind the USA an Chinese Taipei.
In 1985, the Netherlands and Belgium were the first European countries that participated in the softball-tournament.
In 2009, Russia represented Europe and in 2022, Italy.
During the upcoming World Games in Chengdu, eight countries will participate.
The Netherlands will play in Pool A with China, Chinese Taipei and the USA.
Playing in Pool B are Australia, Canada, Japan and Puerto Rico.
...Britt Vonk...
(© Photo: Fred Versluis) |
As only 15 players are allowed to be on a roster during the World Games, Netherlands Team Head Coach Saskia Kosterink had to make some difficult decions, as some players had to be cut.
In July, the team participated with 18 players in the Canada Cup, where it finished in third place.
From that group, righthanded pitcher Lizzy Kwakernaak, infielder Sterre den Duijn and outfielder Anaise Piar are not on the roster for Chengdu.
Earlier this year, during the Royal Warmup Series against Czechia (in May) and Chinese Taipei (in June), eight more players played for the team, being righthanded pitchers Esmee Ames, Margot van Eijl and Marjolein Merkx, catchers Marijn Crouwel, Charlotte Drijvers and Lorraine Kieft, infielder Lizzie Clarijs and outfielder Isa Los.
Five of the eight big league-teams are represented on the roster for the World Games.
The teams without a player in the Orange-squad are Amsterdam Pirates, Onze Gezellen and Red Lions.
Five of the fifteen players on the roster play for reigning champion SanTwee Olympia Haarlem, which includes veteran player Britt Vonk, who has recovered in time from an injury she sustained earlier this year while playing in the professional league in Mexico.
Vonk also was part of the team during the Canada Cup, but then was limited to three pinch-hit appearances during the final three garmes of the event.
She was sidelined the entire regular season and made her comeback during the Play-Offs, playing in two of the three games Olympia Haarlem played in the sweep against Roef! in the past two weeks.
With 242 games, Britt Vonk is the recordholder of official international games played for the National Team in which she debuted in 2008.
Besides having a smaller roster, the team also will be accompanied by a smaller coaching and supporting staff.
Coach Robert Boersma and Team Manager Rebecca Soumeru will not travel to China with the team.
The roster for the World Games looks as follows:
Pitchers (4):
Jessie van Aalst, Lisa Hop (both SanTwee Olympia Haarlem), J'dah Girigorie (Sparks Haarlem) and Eva Voortman (Neptunus).
Catchers (2):
Sietske Drijvers (Roef!) and Laura Wissink (Neptunus).
Infielders (6):
Damishah Charles (Neptunus), Maxime van Dalen, Thaima Maximiliana, Suka Van Gurp (all Sparks Haarlem), Nicky Uytendaal (Roef!) and Britt Vonk (Olympia Haarlem).
Outfielders (3):
Brenda Beers, Cindy van der Zanden (both Olympia Haarlem) and Annemiek Jansen (Tex Town Tigers).
Coaching Staff:
Saskia Kosterink (Head Coach), Jut Stuij (Coach), Mark Smith (Pitching Coach), Marielle Vleugels (Asst. Pitching Coach).
Supporting Staff:
Bas Schalks (Physio Therapist), Marijn Crouwel (Bullpen Catcher).
(August 5)
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