Emmy van den Berg (21) can run fast. Very hard. The Vught athlete will participate in the European Cross Country Championships under 23 years in Brussels next Sunday. But don’t expect Emmy to say that she is going to put the rest behind. “I don’t have the mentality to think I’m the best. I’m working on increasing my self-confidence, because it can get in my way.”
At a European Championship, it will be a matter of pushing and pulling to get a good starting position, especially in the beginning. “I never think that I am the fastest. It is in me that I have the qualities to participate. I just have to believe in that more. For example, I talk to a mental coach to increase my self-confidence. I have noticed in recent months that things are really going a lot better.”
She suffered a mental blow in America, where she studied for a year in combination with running. “I encountered myself there. There was an ‘overfocus’ on the sport, which made me insecure. I am also an analytical type, there was too much going on in my head. Ultimately I ended up with the mental coach.”
“I was sentenced to the elliptical for weeks.”
The fact that she can participate in the European Cross Country Championships under 23 years is special. She missed a large part of the preparation due to a knee injury. Despite this, she finished sixth at the Warandeloop in Tilburg and qualified. “That injury made me even more eager to participate in competitions. I was forced to use the cross trainer for weeks and could only train outside for about two weeks. I had never run a long cross of 8 kilometers before, so It was ‘death or gladioli’ for me.”
Her European Championship ticket provided the necessary attention for Emmy, who is not (yet) used to it. “It was a bit overwhelming. I think the reactions are nice and sweet. Now I can show it at the European Championships, I am going there with confidence. The course is muddy and hilly, I like slogging.”
“They made me put the brakes on.”
Emmy’s career is moving quickly. And yet in the past she was not a natural talent who participated in major tournaments. “I laid the foundation at Prins Hendrik in Vught. My trainers and parents made sure that I had to put the brakes on every now and then. They saw potential in me and thought about the long term. It is now becoming more and more apparent. “, she says.
In the winter season Emmy participates in cross country, in the summer she is on the track. She is brief about her ambitions. “I look at it step by step. The major tournaments on the track and in cross country are always a goal. Three years ago I would not have dared to dream that there are already four European Championships behind my name.”