The Dutch national water polo team manager, Ed van Es, and the assistant coach, Hans Nieuwenburg, representing the national coach, Robin van Gaalen, visited the Johan Cruyff Institute to prepare for the arrival of several of the players who will be aiming to classify their country for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The Dutch national team wants to offer its players a complete training programme consisting of integrating them in water polo clubs in Barcelona to improve their competitive level but also to assure them that, during their stay in Spain, they will be able to continue with their studies. Most of the players are between 20 and 22 years old.
“At the moment we have four players from the team playing in the CN Sabadell and CN Barcelona clubs, but our goal is that next year we will have all the team in Barcelona, about 13 or 14 players, divided between the nine clubs in the first division here,” explains the team manager.
The last time the Netherlands qualified for the Olympics was 15 years ago, in Sydney 2000, and the plan is to reappear in Tokyo, but with more chances of success. “In Holland we only have amateur clubs, the swimming pools are not ours and we train three or four times a week. Here, they’re professionals, they train five hours a day; their development as players is much stronger and faster in Barcelona. We recently played European qualifying matches with these players already settled in Catalonia and they have shown that their level is much higher. So we want to enhance this system and at the same time they can continue with their education. What Barcelona offers us in competition experience, and the Cruyff Institute in training, is perfect,” says Hans.
