Rick Mathijssen will be the new trainer coach of Bloemendaal’s men next season, succeeding departing coach Michel van den Heuvel.
The club reached an agreement with Mathijssen last week; he will take over the reins after the scheduled finish of the Tokyo Olympics as he is currently the assistant coach to Max Caldas with the Dutch men. Most recently, Mathijssen coached AH&BC Amsterdam’s women to the Hoofdklasse and European Cup double.
“Bloemendaal is a great club with a fantastic team,” Mathijssen said of the new job. “The club looks very stable. What I also really like is that there is broad link from the entire club with the first team. I discussed this extensively with Wouter Jolie and Jaap Stockmann.”
The new coach will build on what van den Heuvel has achieved in recent years, including the 2018 EHL title.
“Of course, I have my own points of interest, but the typical Bloemendaal way of playing, with a good defence and fast attacking counters, will not change. I see a close team where all players want to work hard for each other.”
“Where possible, we will give talents opportunities and fit them into the first team.”
Board member Pepijn Pos added: ‘The top hockey committee, including Floris-Jan Bovelander, spoke to a number of very good candidates. We chose Rick: he is driven, tactically strong and can train and coach in detail.
“He is a true professional. He has gained experience with the Oranje men and with the ladies of Amsterdam. he has shown that he can win titles. It’s nice to be able to attract a relatively young trainer-coach.”
Post paid tribute to van de Heuvel: “Michel coached for two seasons at Bloemendaal with great results. During his first period from 2004-2008, we became national champions three times and won the European Cup.
“In this last period, we won the EHL title and last year the national championship. Again Michel will leave a great team behind. As a club, we thank him very much for the enormous quality of his work, his involvement and the successes.”
Before the enforced break due to the spread of the coronavirus, Bloemendaal led the Hoofdklasse by seven points with seven rounds of matches left to play.