These last few World League pieces have been pretty bunched up, but I’ve gotta play a little catchup to get on a 1-a-week schedule before the start of the tournament. Here’s the rundown:
Egypt
Japan
Iran
Netherlands
South Korea
Finland
Canada
Italy
Argentina
Serbia
Russia
France
Brazil
Germany
Bulgaria
Cuba
USA
Poland
In sharp contrast to the last team profiled, the Netherlands are a nation with a rich history of volleyball participation at the highest international levels. They appeared in five straight Olympics, ending with the 2004 Athens Games, and were Olympic champions in Atlanta in 1996. They also claimed Olympic silver in Barcelona four years prior. They appeared in each of the first 14 editions of the World League, and were World League champions in 1996 as well. They’ve for the most part been fixtures at the CEV European Championships, winning that event in 1997 with most of the same players as their World League and Olympic championship squads from the year before, but they did not qualify for the 2011 event. (They’ll return for the 2013 event later this year) The downfall of the national program is chronologically linked to the departures of Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil to pursue beach volleyball careers, but that’s probably the cause and not the effect (Nummerdor and Schuil left because the program was falling in esteem, and not vice versa).
And the last decade has indeed not been very kind to the Oranje. As mentioned, the Athens Olympics of 2004 was the last time the Dutch team featured on that stage. They lost out pretty early in the qualification stages for the London Olympics, falling at the hands of Finland (no terrific shame, they’re a fellow World League team) and Croatia (that’s a little bit more of a wake-up call result). The Dutch were previously coached by Peter Blangé, a very accomplished setter from their glory teams of the early-to-mid 90’s and the record-holder for most international appearances by a player (supplanting the old record of 463). He was replaced by Edwin Benne, who, though actually a year younger than Blangé, marks his playing career from one cycle earlier, being part of the ’92 silver medal team but not the ’96 gold medal team. However brilliant Blangé was as a player, it seems that’s what he lacked as a coach, because the Dutch federation were only too happy to sack him after 2010, after a pretty embarrassing run of results that ended with not even so much as qualifying for the 2011 European Championships.
Here’s where it gets a little hard, because a lot of these tournaments have the same-sounding names. The European Championships are distinct from the European League, a tournament that functions pretty much the same as the World League except, obviously, it restricts team selections to the home continent. Under Blangé, the Oranje achieved second place in 2008, but then didn’t even play in the next two tournaments. Whether they lost out at qualification attempts isn’t clear, but the fact is they weren’t there. In Benne’s first year at the helm, they failed to make the finals, but last season they won the whole tournament, in a 5-set thriller of a final with Turkey that included a remarkable 26-24 fifth set. An indicator perhaps that things might be about to turn around for a once-proud national program. The 2013 World League is just one of many stops for the Netherlands team this year, as they’ve put together a very busy schedule to try to regain some of their lost face. Their year starts with a series of friendlies against Belgium, followed by the first round world championships qualification, where they should be dominant (this round is typically played by island micronations which hardly anyone who doesn’t live in them could point to on a map). After the World League comes the CEV European Championships, in September. All of these events are meant to include the team’s top players.
Like most European nations, the Netherlands have pro volleyball leagues, though most players on the national team play outside the motherland, with Belgium, Germany, and Italy popular destinations. It’s unclear who the floor captain will be, as the previous holder of that mantle Jeroen Trommel was not named as part of the 2013 team. Perhaps it will be middle blocker Johannes Cornelius “Rob” Bontje, who has also held the title before. He and setter Nico Freriks are the only remaining players from the last Dutch Olympic squad of 2004. A notable addition to the team is outside hitter Sjoerd Hoogendoorn, joining the senior national team for the first time this year. Hoogendoorn was named Top Scorer at the 2010 CEV Junior European Championships and was one of the final cuts for the 2012 senior national squad. He is still only 22 (and newly 22) years of age. Another youngster to keep in mind is middle blocker Michael Parkinson, who doesn’t even turn 22 until November. They’ll compete for playing time with the more veteran players at their positions, namely Bontje, Jeroen Rauwerdink, and Niels Klapwijk.
So are we looking at a winner?
Not of the whole tournament, certainly not, but don’t be drawn in by their current #36 FIVB ranking. They’re doubtlessly a better team than that ranking would have you believe. If their pool sent three teams to the championship round, I’d have no problems at all forecasting them to make it that far. As it is, I’m not sure they’ll be good enough to surpass Canada and South Korea, but I’m likewise not sure Canada and South Korea are good enough to surpass them. Calling a winner in that pool will be difficult.
But Netherlands volleyball is in kind of a weird place right now. The national program has been at this level (and well beyond) before, but, as mentioned, only two of the men actually on the court have. Does that give them confidence, or does that give them too lofty of expectations? It’s very hard to say. It seems very likely that this national team is bound for a return to at least some measure of the prominence they once had, but will that start at the 2013 World League? I don’t know. I really feel the need to weasel out of this one. I get the sense that we’ll know a lot more about their direction once the tournament (or rather, their participation in same) has come to an end.
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