Good news for 18-year-old Loïs van Vliet from Made: she was told on Friday that she can go to the Handball World Cup in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The news came a bit last minute, but the handball player will travel to Denmark on Tuesday, where the first match of the Dutch handball players is scheduled for Thursday against Argentina. Loïs didn’t see it coming. “It was really a surprise,” she says in the Omroep Brabant radio program De Zuidtribune.
Loïs has been in the selection for some time to train with the Dutch team, but on Friday before her training started, she was suddenly told that she can go to the World Cup. “The trainer said: ‘I have good news for you, you can go to the World Cup’. It made me a bit silent, I couldn’t believe it.”
The team last became world champion in 2019 and the handball players want to come back with a medal. “We are very well prepared as a team and we are just going for it. We think it is time for a medal again and there is a real chance.”
“It’s a thrill to be able to play with such an audience.”
She also played during the practice match against Hungary last Saturday. “The national coach allowed me to take a few more minutes, which was of course very nice. Very exciting, but you just have to turn off that feeling and then go for it.”
The handball player hopes that she can play again at the World Cup. “It’s a thrill to be able to play with so many spectators. I hope I will also get playing time at the World Cup, but that of course depends on the national coach, so we’ll see.”
“Then I’ve had that again.”
At 18 years old, Loïs is one of the youngest on the team. Will there also be hazing? “They say they never actually do that, so that makes a difference,” she laughs. “If it does happen, I just have to get through it and that’s it again.”