The European adventures of SEW and VZV: “You just want to experience it”

Rolf Schulte, coach of the handball players of VZV, is still active in the European Cup with his team. Thanks to a big win over the Macedonian WHC Vardar VZV may compete against title holder Costa del Sol Malaga from Spain for a place in the quarterfinals.

“We are the underdog and it will be two very tough games, but it is again a great opportunity to gain experience,” says Schulte. “You experience so much in the European Cup both on and off the field. For example, we broke through a barrier in the final phase against Vardar and we became ten centimeters taller there in ten minutes.”

Eastern Europe

Schulte’s colleague Langedijk from SEW is also purely positive about playing in the European Cup. “We had to go to Eastern Europe, to Lithuania. That was fantastic. When will you get there? You have to deal with things that you are not used to. It was a great adventure and our team was really forged there. We are now a even closer group than we already were,” says Langedijk.

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For Langedijk and SEW, the European adventure ended sadly with a narrow defeat against the Israeli Maccabi Arazim Ramat. “I was able to get over it quickly in the end,” he says about the wry elimination. “We were equivalent to a team with a higher budget, which had six or seven paid players from the Eastern Bloc. We were there with a group of girls of eighteen, nineteen years old against those chicks from the Eastern Bloc. We were eliminated due to lack of experience, But that’s part of the process we’re in.”

Learning process

In addition to the European adventures of both teams, the national competition started again in 2021, after a stop of almost a year and a half. Schulte: “This season is a learning process for VZV. We have lost five strong players and have had to pass on new talents. It can always be improved, of course, but I am nevertheless very satisfied with how the integration of players has gone and how we are doing now. to stand.” VZV is in fourth place in the Eredivisie halfway through the season, but feels the hot breath of number five SEW in the neck.

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Langedijk indicates that he would have liked to have gone one step further with SEW. “Because of corona we came to a standstill in 2021. Three years ago we started training six times a week and as a result we made a lot of progress compared to other teams. Because of corona we could only train three times a week and that is why progress has somewhat stalled.”

Both SEW and VZV will do everything they can in 2022 to be among the best four at the end of the regular season. The top four gives a good starting position for the play-offs. Schulte: “In the second half of the season we want to narrow the gap with the top. We lost against the top three this year without a chance. It is important that we get better and make the difference smaller. And hopefully in 2022 the empty stands will be final. past.”

Throw to the title

In Nibbixwoud, too, the focus in 2022 will be on the top four. Langedijk: “The top five teams are all very evenly matched. We are now fifth on the basis of points, but we could have been higher. This season, the top four is absolutely the aim and then we will really try to win next season do the title.”

The first game in 2022 for SEW is Saturday, January 8. Then Langedijk’s team plays for the competition against Kwiek in Raalte. The day before, VZV plays against Malaga in the European Cup. The return is two days later. To keep costs down, both matches are in Spain.