Dutch remain confident about Olympics
We have heard very little about Dutch sevens recently since the pionering full-time professionals failed to regain their place in the World Series lat September. Theye have suffered from the loss of some of their more experienced players, but despite this remain confident that they can still reach the Olympic Games. The team recently spoke about their progress and challenges for 2015, which start this month.
Published by John Birch, February 9th, 2015
3 minute read
The Dutch still have two chances to reach Rio - through the European Championship in June, (where the winner will qualify directly for the Olympics) or through a global qualifier in September, for which there will be a separate European qualifying tournament in July.Since 2011 the players have been part of a full-time, professional training program based in Amsterdam, developed in collaboration with the Center for Education and Professional Sports (CTO) in Amsterdam. It is a program that includes not only the senior team but also in an under 18 team, and an pathway for athletes from other sports. The team is now reaping the rewards, says Technical director Krijn de Schutter: "In recent months, several great talents have moved on to the Elite team. This creates more competition at the highest level within the team, which leads to excellence. This should lead to a top performance during the European Championship. "Anne Hielckert, the new captain of the Dutch rugby ladies, sees this development will daily back on the field. "Because of the influx of new talent, we all realize that we must work hard every day daily to keep our place in the squad. Under coach Chris Lane we have stepped up a level again and are now are focused on qualifying for Rio. "Chris Lane, coach of the women's team since the end of 2013, agrees. "The next step that the team must be made according on the field: We have no doubt that we have the skills to play against the top in the world, but the challenge is to play enough games to keep up at a world level. We have made great strides in our game in recent months, and now we need to test these changes against the best opposition.
The first time step will be taking part in USA Sevens, from 13 to 15 February in Las Vegas. In March, the team travels to the Hong Kong Sevens, followed by a training camp in Japan, where the Netherlands has been asked to play various games. The final step in preparation in Europe will be the World Series in Amsterdam - the most important tournament in the Dutch build-up before the European Championship.
It is also confirmed that the Dutch programme will extend beyond 2016, regardless of the outcome of their Olympic qualfication bid. With a strong junior development arm and a firm financial base independent of the Dutch Rugby Union, the programme has this week relaunched its search for athletes,expanding its target to Dutch national worldwide. It may not be long before we see the orange shirts playing at the top level again.