Two Swiss table tennis players and a Spanish one get on a plane every time they play a competition match for Team WELYNQ/TTV Maashorst in Uden. With these internationals, the table tennis club just missed out on being Dutch champion for the second time in a row on Thursday.
The table tennis players train and play matches in the gymnasium of a play learning center in Uden. Not a great environment for table tennis, but top sport is still being practiced at the association that has existed for fifty years this year.
In 2019, coach Han Gootzen (64) from Uden took the initiative to storm the Dutch top. The team had to start in the second division. It immediately took the title there. Last season and this year they lost the final for the national championship.
“With us, talents get the chance to take a nice step in their career.”
To compete for the title, according to Gootzen, it is necessary to look beyond one’s own national borders. “We would prefer to work with Dutch talents. There are, but they often choose a large table tennis country like Germany.”
According to him, it is not easy to secure international talent and it also costs a lot of plane tickets. “Nowadays you can also set up a good team with a little less budget. With us, talented people get the chance to take a nice step in their career.”
And so three foreign players arrived. The Swiss Mauro Scharrer and Elias Hardmeier also play together in the league of their own country. The Spaniard Juan Pedro Sanchez Terrones also gets on a plane for every match.
“I learned a lot here and the people are very friendly.”
Star player Hardmeier (21) leaves for the Third Bundesliga in Germany. “I learned a lot here and the people are very friendly. In Germany I hope to take a step up in the coming years.”
Scharrer (19) is Hardmeier’s roommate with his Dutch host family. He moves to a boarding school in Germany to focus on table tennis full-time. He will continue to play for Uden next year, partly because of his good relationship with the coach. “He knows everything about the opponents and always stays calm. He knows that sometimes things go well in a match and sometimes less.”
Gootzen would like to win the Dutch title and play in Europe: “In my career I have won several national titles and played European and World Championships. The sport is in my DNA. I’m definitely not done yet. I want to go for the highest possible with this team.”
Waiting for privacy settings…