Sixth place for the Dutch Junior Orange girls at the EJK u.19
The Dutch water polo girls from the 2005 and younger generation were at the European Youth Championship (EJK) under 19 finished sixth in Zagreb. The team of national coach Eszter Gyori lost in the battle for 5th and 6th place 8-9 to Italy, who only scored the decisive goal with a numerical advantage four seconds before the end.
The narrow defeat did show that the Dutch Juniors had grown into the tournament, because in the group stage Italy had been too strong with a score of 13-4. Spain - the later European champion after a 10-9 victory in the final against Hungary - was also a size too big for the Dutch team in the group, who did manage to win against Israel with a score of 10-5.
In the cross-over, the Netherlands was too strong for Great Britain with a score of 14-5, but in the quarter finals Croatia proved to be too big an obstacle on the way to the medals: 9-7. The host country's progress in the women's line is undeniably visible, because at the WJK under 16 years, Croatia finished fourth, just like at this EJK.
National coach Eszter Gyori: "For us, the goal with the Dutch Juniors is to keep up with the top countries. The top 8 are certainly evenly matched. We played a really good match against European champion Spain, but we couldn't maintain that level for seven matches. Host country Croatia has invested a lot in women's water polo in recent years. The team that beat us in the quarter finals has gained a lot of experience at the highest international level in recent years. I do think we could have won that match."
"On the last day, we showed our progress with a strong match against Italy. It is clear to me that training at a high level alone is not enough. More of our players and goalkeepers need to play matches at a high level throughout the year. That is why it is also good that three Dutch clubs will be active in Europe in the coming months. We also need to seek more and better competition during the year with the national youth teams. In addition to the good training program, this is an important step to finally stay in the game.”
The Dutch Juniors under 19 played the EJK with the following line-up: Jade Sinnema (UZSC), Amber de Koeijer (UZSC), Tatum van der Elst (Polar Bears), Susan de Vries (Het Ravijn), Robin Jutte (UZSC), Linde Haksteen (MNC Dordrecht), Pien Gorter (Het Ravijn), Jolijn Joor (ZVL-1886), Amalia Christodoulou-Out (Olympiakos Pireaus, Greece), Melissa Schipper (De Ham), Tess van der Meer (ZVL-1886), Amy Kleinlugtebeld (Het Ravijn), Caitlin van Leeuwen (ZV De Zaan), Katherina Christodoulou-Out (UZSC) and Kiara Heerink (Polar Bears). In addition to Eszter Gyori, the coaching staff consisted of assistant coaches Laszlo Nagy and Karin Kuipers (also team manager) and physiotherapist Karla Plugge.
Characteristics of the Dutch Juniors in Zagreb
Sunday 25 August, Pool B
Netherlands – Spain 8-14
Period scores: 2-5, 1-3, 3-3, 2-3
Goals Netherlands: Pien Gorter 3, Amalia Christodoulou-Out 3, Robin Jutte, Tess van der Meer.
Monday 26 August, Pool B
Italy – Netherlands 13-4
Period scores: 5-1, 3-1, 3-2, 2-0
Goals Netherlands: Robin Jutte, Linde Haksteen, Jolijn Joor, Tess van der Meer.
Tuesday 27 August, Pool B
Netherlands – Israel 10-5
Period scores: 2-3, 3-0 1-1, 4-1
Goals Netherlands: Susan de Vries 2, Robin Jutte 2, Amy Kleinlugtebeld 2, Tatum van der Elst, Amalia Christodoulou-Out, Linde Haksteen, Jolijn Joor.
Wednesday 28 August, cross-over
Netherlands – Great Britain 14-5
Period scores: 6-2, 2-2, 5-1, 1-0
Goals Netherlands: Amy Kleinlugtebeld 4, Pien Gorter 3, Tess van der Meer 2, Tatum van der Elst 2, Robin Jutte, Amalia Christodoulou-Out, Kiara Heerink.
Thursday 29 August, quarter-finals
Croatia – Netherlands 9-7
Period scores: 2-2, 2-2, 3-0, 2-3
Goals Netherlands: Pien Gorter 3, Robin Jutte 2, Amalia Christodoulou-Out, Amy Kleinlugtebeld.
Friday 30 August, 5-8th place
France – Netherlands 7-10
Period scores: 3-3, 2-2, 2-1, 0-4
Goals Netherlands: Pien Gorter 6, Tess van der Meer 2, Amalia Christodoulou-Out, Robin Jutte.
Saturday 31 August, 5/6th place
Netherlands – Italy 8-9
Period scores: 3-0, 2-4, 2-2, 1-3
Goals Netherlands: Amalia Christodoulou-Out 3, Robin Jutte 2, Pien Gorter 2, Amy Kleinlugtebeld.
Final score EJK
1. Spain
2. Hungary
3. Greece
4. Croatia
5. Italy
6. Netherlands
7. Israel
8. France
9. Great Britain
10. Germany
11. Slovakia
12. Ukraine
13. Turkey
14. Romania
15. Malta
16. Bulgaria
WJK girls under 18
Part of the EJK team will also participate in the World Youth Championship (WJC) under 18 years (born in 2006 and later) in Chengdu, China from 15 to 22 September. Eszter Gyori selected the following players for this tournament: Tatum van der Elst (Polar Bears), Caitlin van Leeuwen (ZV De Zaan), Linde Haksteen (MNC Dordrecht), Pien Gorter (Het Ravine), Tess van der Meer (ZVL-1886), Amy Kleinlugtebeld (Het Ravine), Kiara Heerink (Polar Bears), Renske Boxsem (Het Ravine), Renske Overdam (GZC Donk), Iris Vreeling (Het Ravine), Kimber van der Linde (De Gouwe / GZC Donk), Marjolein de Gier (Polar Bears), Esmee Ouwens (GZC Donk), Myrthe Broekmate (Het Ravine) and Jiera Luttenberg (Het Ravine).
In addition to national coach Eszter Gyori, the coaching staff consists of assistant coach Richard van Eck, video analyst Chris Hendrix (also team manager) and physiotherapist Karla Plugge.
Eszter Gyori: “We have a challenging group stage in China with Spain, Italy and Greece, who are ranked slightly higher than us based on last year. We are going for the best possible game and result in those matches. We do that just like in Zagreb, step by step, match by match. It is a great opportunity for our talents to compete with the best players of their age in the world. We will make full use of that.”
Poule division WJK girls u.18
Division 1:
Poule A: Italy, Netherlands, Greece, Spain.
Poule B: Australia, United States, Hungary, New Zealand.
Division 2:
Poule C: Thailand, Croatia, Canada, South Africa.
Poule D: China, Turkey, Mexico, Israel.
The numbers 1 and 2 of Pool A and B qualify directly for the quarter-finals, the numbers 3 and 4 play a cross-over against the numbers 2 and 1 of Pool C and D respectively.
Programme Jong Oranje in Chengdu (*)
Monday 16 September 05.30: Greece - Netherlands
Tuesday 17 September 07.30: Netherlands - Italy
Wednesday 18 September 10.00: Netherlands - Spain
Thursday 19 September: cross-overs, including 3A-2C, 4A-1C.
Friday 20 September: quarter-finals
Saturday 21 September: semi-finals
Sunday 22 September: finals
(*) Dutch times, in Chengdu it is 6 hours later.
Sponsors EJK and WJK
Participation in the EJK and WJK is made possible by the following sponsors: Aunt Dick, Anja van Dijk, Sita Basgiet, Henk van der Linde, Andy Hoepelman, Christiaan Post and many others.
