Even before the match has started, Celeste Plak (26) already stands out in the list of Dutch volleyball players. They all sing along to the national anthem for international matches, but her fanaticism and fun are even more noticeable.
‘We have agreed that we will do the last sentence on volume 100’, she explains with a laugh. ‘I have always honored! Maybe I’ll do 102, or so it seems. The others do it too. With me you only see that my veins are getting thick in my neck.’
It says nothing about her music taste, she swears. “I belong to Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin.” However, it is certain that she enjoys wearing the orange shirt even more at this World Cup, in front of the home crowd. “I already had great expectations, but it is even better than I had hoped. We are the best fourteen volleyball players in this country, I think it’s an honor to be part of that.’
After a sabbatical of a little over a year, it was not obvious that she would be one of those fourteen again. Two years ago she stopped temporarily, because she was done with the grueling volleyball existence. Plak played five years in Italy and a year in Turkey, where executives and sponsors often demanded screaming performances. It didn’t bring her happiness, but panic attacks.
There is hardly any time to relax for top volleyball players, because the club competitions almost seamlessly transition into a long international summer. Lonneke Slöetjes, the best player of the Dutch team, also took a break, but for her it resulted in the decision to stop completely. Others chose not to play for the national team anymore.
Feeling Adrenaline
‘I just like working with people,’ says Plak about why she returned. ‘Fighting for things, feeling the adrenaline, the excitement. I didn’t want to give that up and luckily I didn’t have to. It feels like a second round.’
Eight years ago, as an 18-year-old, she was there for the first time at a world championship. The 1.90 meter long Plak started ‘steamy’, as a debutant she was immediately in the starting line. In 2018 she also participated when the Netherlands became fourth in the world, although she played less because she knew Slöetjes in her position.
At this World Cup, Plak was back in the starting lineup for the first three games. Without the retired routines, she is one of the more experienced players in a team that has to be rebuilt from the bottom up. As a diagonal striker she is the ‘garbage woman’, the player who often gets the difficult balls and has to make points from them.
In that position, the great talent Elles Dambrink (19) knocks emphatically on the door. ‘We are two completely different players’, Plak explains. She herself is right-handed, Dambrink is left. ‘I am more of the power: high and hard. Elles has a high resolving power and is a bit more dexterous with the ball than I am. So it’s really what the team needs: do they need my biceps, my shoulder? Or Elles’ tactics? The fact that we can change is really of added value.’
Of course she wants to play herself, play a lot, play everything. Her eagerness on the field has not diminished after her sabbatical, even though her life is different. After much hesitation, she turned to a psychologist. She’s calmer, she says now, kinder to herself, no longer punishing herself when she makes a mistake. Volleyball, she now knows, is quite important, but ‘in the end it’s a game’.
less anger
‘I can filter much better’, she explains. When people get angry, she can now let it slide more easily. “Now I think: it’s your anger and frustration and your threats, I am myself, I do what I can.”
It helps that there is much less anger around her. After her break she opted for an adventure in Japan, where she now plays with Himeji Victorina. The gamble paid off, after her experiences in Italy and Turkey.
She noticed this immediately when she replied after a win that she was happy because they had won. ‘Then someone said: no, I asked: how are you?’, Plak explains the difference. ‘Wow, I thought, they’re asking about me, they want to know how I’m doing. It’s much more respectful there, man over machine.’
That is why the player from Tuitjenhorn in North Holland – Dutch mother, Surinamese father – can also be seen next year on her too small Japanese bicycle. Even though the Japanese league is not the best in the world and Victorina finished last year last year. “As a top athlete you always want to compete at the highest level, but this club has just been good for me. I also think a good feeling and loyalty are important.’
“I still want to perform. The way has changed. You can do top sport for about fifteen, maybe twenty years. I just make a conscious choice to enjoy it more. I have more fun and that means that I can also digest the bad periods much better.’
She does not dare to say whether her teammates notice that she is feeling better. Although they regularly show that they like that she is there. “Sometimes someone says, ‘I got a smile from you today, thank you. Or that I made sure that someone stayed relaxed during the training. Those are very nice, valuable things to experience.’
She also tries to pay attention to it. If someone is tense, not feeling well, she will probe. Just make a joke, feel what the person needs. “Just put a hand on your shoulder.” On Wednesday she put both tires on the shoulders of Elles Dambrink in a time-out. Just a literal helping hand for her teammate, her competitor too, who had come on for her in the last set of the game against Puerto Rico.
‘I had a slightly lesser day’, she says afterwards. “Luckily Elles took it well.” Dambrink was already ready to come in when Plak smashed a ball hard into the net. Immediately afterwards, the substitute managed to score, her first pitch was a run. Good for the team of course, but isn’t Plak disappointed because she didn’t succeed?
‘No, honestly not’, she says in the mixed zone just after the game. She thinks for a moment because she wants to articulate why. “If I don’t do it right, why occupy a seat for someone else who can score points? I’m happy when I do well, but it’s also good that Elles gets playing time and opportunities. It can be quite overwhelming to be on the field at a World Cup. I clap for her, I encourage her, I give directions, so, no, honestly, I’m also happy if she does well.’
When she’s not playing, she’s eager to understand why. Then she asks a coach for an explanation, but over the years the uncertainty has ebbed away. She thinks it can be even better at this World Cup. She wants to be of more value, offensively, hitting the balls you don’t expect, but that’s okay, she thinks, the tournament is still long.
“I am satisfied with the qualities I have. In the past I once asked a coach: why are you letting me stand? What do you see as my quality? I haven’t done that in a while.’ She laughs at herself. “Now I think: I’m just glad I’m in it, I’m not going to ask any questions.”
The best attacker in the world
For years Lonneke Slöetjes was considered the best diagonal attacker in the world. Now Paola Egonu (23) is often mentioned, the Italian of Nigerian descent who stands out because of her enormous jumping power (peak height 3.47). ‘Because she sits so very high, she has the choice of angles,’ explains Plak (peak height 3.14). “Where she wants to place the ball, that’s where she places the ball.” Yet she hesitates to call her the best in the world. “I have to be careful, because I’m friends with Paola, but at the moment I think Tijana Bošković is a little higher.” Egonu is more athletic than the left-handed Serbian (peak height 3.29), which makes it all look more spectacular and beautiful. ‘But Bošković is more complete, strong in all areas. Attack, defense, service. Just a team player and a very hard worker.’