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Players Junior White Team meet Staff and have first practice; Fifth Flex Coach introduced
 Nederlandse tekst
VEENENDAAL (Neth.) - On Sunday, January 24, the 22 players, who were invited to participate in practices for the Dutch Junior White Team ensembled in Veenendaal for their first meeting of the year.
Initially, this meeting was scheduled for two weeks ago, but then was canceled, due to a weather alarm because of severe weather conditions, including heavy snow.
The meeting was re-scheduled for today, but the evening before it started to snow again.
Luckily, this time it did no harm and the meeting went on as scheduled.
At Sports Hall West in Veenendaal, the players, accompanied by parents, coaches or boardmembers of their respective clubs, were informed about the status of this year Junior White Team, which include players from the so-called Cadets-age category (born in 1993/1994).
During the meeting, Head Coach Craig Montvidas introduced his staff, which today included Flex Coaches Nathalie Franssen, Mireille Gill'ard, Sandra Gouverneur and Marjan Smit, Physical Therapists Anouk Fermont and Sanne Oude Egberink, Team Manager Paul Boonstra and Media Officer Marco Stoovelaar.
Flex Coach Maaike Zijlstra (who will handle the pitching) was unable to be at the meeting today.
Despite having his left leg in a cast, Team Manager Paul was able to be at the meeting.
On Saturday-evening, he fell, while taking a photo during a snowboard-outing with colleagues from his regular job, with a swollen knee as a result.
Next Friday, it is expected that a diagnose can be made of the damage in his knee.
Have a quick recovery, Paul!
Mireille Gill'ard was with the staff for the first time today, as she was named as the fifth Flex Coach earlier in the week to complete the Flex Staff.
As are the others, Mireille also is a former National Team-player, played in the Dutch big league and was coach on the Dutch big league-level.
The staff will be reponsible for all Dutch National Women Softball Teams, so with today's meeting, a new team was put on track.
While this team has no big international tournament this year, it will start preparations for next years European Championships.
The site for the Championships will be chosen early February during the Congress of the European Softball Federation (ESF) in Antalya (Turkey).
And so, a new chapter will be added to this site.
All news of the Junior White Team will be available on this site, which also include the Junior Red Team and the Dutch National Softball Team.
As is the case with the Dutch National Team and the Dutch Junior Team, individual player pages will be available in the near future, as well as a schedule-page and a team roster-page.
And of course, when there is news, it can be found on this site.
So, after the introduction of the staff and giving additional information on this years program, it was time for a photo session.
Media Officer Marco took photos of all players, which will be used for the upcoming personal pages on this site, which will be added soon.
Next, Physical Therapists Anouk and Sanne conducted a conditional test, which was followed by the first practice of the year for the Dutch Junior White Team.
The 22 players on the roster of the Dutch Junior White Team will join the 27 players on the roster of the Dutch Junior Red Team in the weekend of February 6 and 7 to participate in the Right To Play Future Stars Tournament in Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam.
Team Manager Paul Boonstra shows off the cast on his left-leg
Some people do everyhting to get into a picture...
Players, parents and coaches listen to the introductions
Team Manager Paul Boonstra addresses the players, parents and coaches
Sitting in front are players Floor van Dijk, Eliza Rikkelman, Deion van der Voort, Myrthe Smid,
Femke Duffhues, Eva van Knegsel, Gini Ketelaars, Ardine Schemmekes, Maaike Siegerist and Laura van der Bos
Sitting on the other side of the stands are the other players
Back row: Jasmin Carlson, Stephanie Ruiter, Shomayra Franka, Pien Bartels, Lynn Dollekamp,
Shadeney Castillo and Lueji Petchkovsky Morais.
Front row: Lisanne Korringa, Merel Groenveld, Melissa de Greef, Kim Buizer and Lotte Zijlstra
Staffmembers (left to right): Head Coach Craig Montvidas, Team Manager Paul Boonstra,
Physical Therapists Sanne Oude Egberink and Anouk Fermont and Flex Coaches
Nathalie Franssen, Sandra Gouverneur, Mireille Gill'ard and Marjan Smit
Media Officer Marco Stoovelaar is busy making the photos for the site
The players wait in line for their uniform
The players put on their uniforms to start practice
The condition test starts with a running session
Flex Coach Sandra Gouverneur has a talk with Physical Therapist Sanne Oude Egberink
Physical Therapist Sanne Oude Egberink explains the condition drills to
Stephanie Ruiter, Eva van Knegsel, Eliza Rikkelman, Melissa de Greef, Jasmin Carlson,
Pien Bartels, Kim Buizer, Deion van der Voort and Shadeney Castillo
And so does Physical Therapist Anouk Fermont to players
Maaike Siegerist, Ardine Schemmekes, Laura van der Bos, Lynn Dollekamp, Lotte Zijlstra,
Lueji Petchkovsky Morais, Floor van Dijk, Lisanne Korringa, Merel Groenveld,
Gini Ketelaars, Femke Duffhues, Myrthe Smid and Shomayra Franka
At right are Flex Coaches Mireille Gill'ard and Marjan Smit
The drill of the condition test in process
Physical Therapist Sanne Oude Egberink performs the proper position for a drill
Physical Therapist Sanne Oude Egberink checks on player Kim Buizer
Time for another team-meeting
After the condition test, it's time for a regular practice session
Flex Coach Sandra Gouverneur addresses the players
Eva van Knegsel (5), Femke Duffhues (16) and Pien Bartels (1) listen
New Flex Coach Mireille Gill'ard hits grounders
Flex Coach Nathalie Franssen gives new instructions
Flex Coaches Mireille Gill'ard, Nathalie Franssen, Marjan Smit
and Sandra Gouverneur prepare the last drill of the day
The players are ready for the day-ending running-relay session
Laura van der Bos, Merel Groenveld, Lisanne Korringa and Eliza Rikkelman
prepare for the next round
After completion of the relay-session, players (and coaches) have a moment to relax
from all the running
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