Netherlands: De valse herstart van Bloemendaal: ‘Noem het onze wake-up-week’

Bloemendaal is experiencing a false start to the second half of the season. Within eight days, the frontrunner went down against low-flyer SCHC (4-3) and mid-tier Klein Zwitserland (3-2). ‘Two defeats in such a short time, I have never experienced that here,’ reacted Jorrit Croon, the brand new captain of De Mussen.

Croon, now in his eleventh big league season, is experienced enough to understand that the alarm is raised after two surprising slips. ‘That doesn’t happen to us very often. So yes, it is striking. It’s also new to me. A somewhat crazy sensation. In my seven years with Bloemendaal, I can count the number of defeats about on two hands. We are used to winning, however crazy that may sound.’

And that’s why friend and foe alike were surprised by that poor restart to the league. On the first matchday after the winter break, SCHC – at that time even the bottom of the league – surprisingly beat Bloemendaal. It was De Mussen’s first defeat this season. The following weekend KZ also trumped the record champion. That they also won the catch-up game against Rotterdam (3-2) hardly drew attention.

‘Unworthy of Bloemendaal’

‘We came out of the winter rusty and not so smooth,’ Croon concluded. ‘And I don’t find that very surprising. We haven’t seen each other for three months and were only complete again a few days before the league. Some played in the hall, others participated in the Hockey India League, were away with the national teams or also didn’t play hockey at all. That has all been fine recently, but it does ensure that we are not immediately a well-oiled machine. You might not expect that from us yet either.’

Of course, Croon has also spent the past few days thinking about causes, leads and recurring errors. ‘It’s hard to find anything general. What is certain is that we are searching. That we haven’t found the automatisms yet. Against SCHC we made too many mistakes. Were we too sloppy, not good and they played the game of their lives.’

Coach Michel van den Heuvel even stated that it was ‘Bloemendaal-unworthy’, what his team showed in that match. ‘I agree with that. We didn’t show there what we can do. When you get so many against, it already becomes very difficult to win. The same goes for the game against KZ, although we played much better there before halftime. We were leading 2-0 and nothing seemed wrong.

Lucas Veen lays it off against his SCHC opponents. Photo: Koen Suyk

The after-effects of the summer

‘But there is not one element that keeps going wrong now. One time it goes wrong in the build-up, the other time you get an unfortunate card. You get an unnecessary corner. If that leads nowhere, you don’t talk about it for so long. But now it seems as if every mistake is followed by a goal. Then it’s hard to get a good result.’

Croon said, they are searching. Have to find each other again. ‘Maybe before the winter things went beyond expectations,’ pondered Croon. His comment is understandable. Bloemendaal lost two top players and culture carriers in the summer with Thierry Brinkman and Arthur Van Doren. New players arrived, such as top talent Lucas Veen and Australian goalgetter Nathan Ephraums. A new coach: Michel van den Heuvel. Croon himself was still injured, missing the entire first half of the season as he recovered from a serious ankle injury suffered at the Olympics.

The rebuilt Bloemendaal went like a rocket. Won ten of its eleven games before the winter and played that other game (against Den Bosch, 2-2) tied. Figures that contrast sharply with the series after the winter. ‘Maybe it sounds crazy, in the middle of the season, but sometimes it takes some getting used to each other again. We have a great team, but we haven’t played together too much yet. When things aren’t going well, it’s hard to fall back on anything.’

Dennis Warmerdam (left) lays off against SCHC’s Maarten Bruisten. Photo: Koen Suyk

A hard landing for the new captain

And with that, it was a hard landing for Croon, who was so eager to play for his club again after his injury. For the first time as captain, no less. ‘I had imagined a different start to the second half of the season. But to be clear: there is no crisis or panic. We are still in first place, although now we know extra well that we are far from there. Let’s call it a wake-up week. One that ensures that we are back on track in time.’