The US open (for both tennis and golf), the Australian Open (also for tennis), and the Torius Open Practices. Full of good spirits, I left late on a Tuesday night to Unit Sports. The Torius ladies already played their first match of their competition, and had practices during the summer break. You’ll never know how many ladies will show up at such an open practice, I thought to myself. The 10 competition girls will be there, so I was hoping for 15, that way we can find some new members.
- 20:45 – Finally found the hall, different entrances open or closed since the last training. Getting to the hall trough the sand. Wipe your feet at what is supposed to be a doormat. I counted about 12 ladies.
- 20:50 – Some new girls start showing up. What’s your name? Did you ever play handball before> 18 girls
- 20:55 – The hall is starting to fill up slowly, well at least at the side of the ladies. Wow Jan, there are already more ladies than gents
- 21:00 – The training is about to start as the chairman takes the stage. He welcomes everybody and introduces both the 27th board, the Mentorians and of course the trainers, who get a big round of applause.
- 21:10 – The training starts with the warming up, and I start counting. 23, 24, 25… And then there you are, with a training prepared for 15 players.
The gears are working overtime, trying to think of ways to adjust the material. Warming up goalies also seemed like a challenge with 25 players. Luckily Evianne and Fleur are able to relieve each other, but the challenge remains as shots are flying everywhere. Players are helping each other, new girls are receiving tips, all in all everything went smoothly. Exercises of different types, some offense against defense and at about 23:00 the final word from the chairman, filling in forms, and attracting new members
At home, on the couch, drinking jenever, coming in late for work on Wednesday.
Thursday another open practice, mostly with less girls they said.
Thursday the training starts at 19:15, again with more than 20 ladies.
The Torius Open Practices, awesome!
Jan van Dongen,
Trainer and Coach Torius Ladies.