LGITS.nl Martini Sparks ceases to exist. The women’s basketball team from Haren disbands itself due to a lack of players. For four seasons, the team played basketball in the Scharlakenhof sports hall in Haren in the women’s premier league, the so-called Women’s Basketball League.
In all four competitions, Martini Sparks ended up in the lower regions with the last place of last season as the low point. The ninth position meant that the basketball players were the only team not allowed to participate in the play-offs for the championship of the Netherlands.
A tweet on Twitter at 1:05 p.m. Thursday introduced the icy news to a hot summer day. What should have become a basketball stronghold in the Northern Netherlands burst like a soap bubble. No more top women’s basketball at the premier league level in one of the three northern provinces.
Fun gone
,,Earlier this week we took the plunge and pulled the plug”, said Martini Sparks marketing and communication board member Gaaike Euwema. ,,For four seasons we struggled and lost a lot more than we won. Add to that corona and the many injuries that plagued the team. That put a heavy burden on the players and made the fun disappear for most women.”
..It was coming a bit”, Caspar Wit, the coach of Martini Sparks for the last half of the season, noted already during the end of the season. White would also be at the helm next season, but can look for a new club as a coach. ,,The players were mentally exhausted and that was already visible when I arrived in the winter. Then some of the team actually wanted to stop. They were like: what are we doing it all for?” Wit thought that the organization was not in a good position, there was little structure and not much financial capacity. “If you also lose a lot for four years, it will be difficult.”
restart
Board member Euwema argued on Thursday that the finances would not be strong enough for women’s basketball in the premier league. “We were in good shape financially. We end up with 0, so no debts. Furthermore, there were already some new sponsors. We also had talks with two foreign players.”
It wasn’t enough for the Martini Sparks women’s basketball. ,,The players made their own decisions, wanted the fun back in the game and switched to other associations. Understandable.” Euwema even thinks that top basketball among the women around Groningen can make a new start in one or two years. ,,There will be a good batch in a few years, but we didn’t want to wait for that. You can then pick it up with a new organization.”
‘Ten times a new start’
The sad story of the end of Martini Sparks is largely endorsed by captain of the last team, Kim Jaasma. She also believes that the board has clearly left things undone. According to her, the ambitious ‘project’ Martini Sparks has failed. “The policy of the board has not provided a stable basis. Had that happened, several players, including me, would have stayed. We reported everything, but nothing was done with it.”
Finally, something snapped with the roster of Martini Sparks during the past season. Jaasma, who is the only player who continues to play in the Eredivisie because she moved to Jolly Jumpers in Tubbergen, was no longer surprised. “In my experience, we have made a new start ten times. Every time a problem was solved, a new problem arose. That felt very heavy for four years. We could focus less and less on basketball, so the results lagged behind.”