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First practice en route to Ronchi; New Physical Therapist introduced
 Nederlandse tekst
ZEIST (Netherlands) -
The Dutch National Softball Team opened the 2011 season with its first practice session on Wednesday, January 12 at the KNVB-center at Zeist, the home of the Dutch National Soccer Team.
From now on, the Dutch Softball Team will conduct three indoor practices per week: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
On Friday, January 21, the first indoor game is scheduled to be played in Amsterdam.
All indoor games will be played on Friday in Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam and are open for everyone to watch.
The games start at 12:00 PM.
Before the start of the first practice, several logistical items were announced.
Head Coach Craig Montvidas also introduced Ingrid Holstege.
She will be the third Physical Therapist in the medicall staff of the Dutch National Softball Team, joining Sanne Oude Egberink and Anouk Fermont.
A third therapist became necessary, as Sanne is expecting her second child, while Anouk is currently doing an additional study for her work.
From now on, Ingrid will be with the team during the weekly Friday-practices in Amsterdam.
Like Anouk and Sanne, Ingrid also works for Tamminga Fysiotherapie.
Montvidas also planned to introduce new Pitching Coach Karen Marr, but unfortunately she was unable to be with the team today due to a leg-problem.
The Australian coach arrived last Friday and on Sunday, she attended the practice session of the two Dutch Junior Teams in Veenendaal.
Also during the meeting before the practice, the uniforms were distributed.
For the record, Meike Witteveen changed her uniform number from 11 to 13.
For rookies Noëmie Brandjes, Dinet Oosting, Laura Treurniet and Marisèla de Wind today was their first training as an official member of the Dutch National Softball Team.
All four were with the National Team earlier.
As a Junior-player, Dinet was added to the Dutch Team as a fill-in player during the Holland Tour 2009 for a double-header vs. the Foreign All Star Team on June 10 and played in one game.
On December 18, 2009, Noëmie was one of four Junior-players, who practiced with the team in Amsterdam, while Laura was one of three Junior-players who were invited for a practice with the National Team in Amsterdam on February 12, 2010.
Marisèla was one of five Junior-players, who joined the National Team (which then was split into three teams) during the Indoor Cup in January 2010.
Last year, Noëmie, Dinet, Laura and Marisèla all were members of the Dutch Junior Team that participated in the European Junior Championship in Vienna (Austria).
After completion of that event, the eligibility to play for the Juniors expired for Dinet, Laura and Marisèla due to their age and so, the three were added to the preliminary roster of the National Team in October 2010.
Also in October, Noëmie is one of 49 players named to the preliminary roster of the Dutch Junior Red Team, but in November, she is added to the roster of the National Team.
Also with the team today was Britt Vonk to see everyone one more time before she returns to the States.
Next Monday, Britt will travel to Berkeley to resume her study at the University of California at Berkeley, where she will start her softball-season next month.
With the practice session on Wednesday, the Dutch National Team started its preparations en route to Ronchi dei Legionari, the city in Italy which will be the main site of the European Championship in July/August.
Two years ago, the Dutch captured the title during the European Championship in Valencia (Spain) and the goal for this year is to defend the title successfully.
The Dutch Team also will play games in the weekend of February 26-27 during the National Team Showcase in Amsterdam.
Hereafter, the squad travels to the USA, where it will play at least 14 games in Florida and Tennessee during an American Tour.
After returning from the States, the team will resume its weekly practice sessions, moving outdoors on April 6, then starts the fourth Holland Tour with an intersquad game on May 4.
After two weeks of intersquad games, the team opens a 12-game series on Sunday, May 15 at De Bilt on the site of Centrals.
The first day of practice started with some logistical items
Also today, new Physical Therapist Ingrid Holstege was introduced
On the right is her colleague Sanne Oude Egberink
Rookie Laura Treurniet and Team Captain Saskia Kosterink listen
The European Championship Trophy proudly was in attendance all day
Business Manager Rich Hooff today handled the distribution of the uniforms
The players check their uniforms
The making of the first teamphoto of 2011
The team poses with the European Championship Trophy it won in 2009 in Spain
The goal for 2011 is the defend the Cup successfully in Italy
Physical Therapists Sanne Oude Egberink and Ingrid Holstege
checked the balls before the start of the practice
Time to warm up...
...and do some excersises
Head Coach Craig Montvidas addresses the players
Here, Head Coach Craig Montvidas talks with Team Captains Rebecca Soumeru and Saskia Kosterink
Femke van Dusschoten, Virginie Anneveld, Meike Witteveen
and Fabienne van Uden make some swings
Rookies Marisèla de Wind, Dinet Oosting, Laura Treurniet and Noëmie Brandjes
conducted their first practice as official member of the Dutch National Softball Team
After a relaxing conditioning program, the first practice ended with a game of soccer
Hey, after all, we were at the complex of the Dutch Soccer Federation today
The first team-yell of the season concluded the first training of the season
THE SEASON HAS BEGUN!
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