As you can see above, our very own Belgian Juniors have won the Spirit of the Game award in the Under20 division at the European Youth Ultimate Championships in Wroclaw,Poland.
These young guns, lead by coaches Olli (Mooncatchers) and Eric (Jetset/Funkadelic) and captain Tom (Diabolic Heaven) took a good example from all the other Belgian teams who have won spirit awards troughout the year and continued the tradition.
Belgian is known for having a good spirit tradition and it's something I'm particularly proud of, even though sometimes the heat can get going in decisive games.
Spirit is something that should be thaught to young players and that is why they need good examples.
It's the most important aspect of our game, and so we should all be really proud of our youngsters who are all very talented.
Note : This interview was freely translated by myself.
GetHo’ : How did the Belgians do ? How bout the level of play ?
"I was under the impression that the level had changed a little. This was probably caused by the fact that a lot juniors from previous EYUC’s were too old to still play in the U20 division.
As far as the Belgians go, we had a great level for such a young team. Our average age was 17 and that’s quite amazing in the Under20 division where 2 or 3 more years of experience can change a lot.
In the end we got to the 8th place out of 13 and without any preparation and only having 14 players this was quite an accomplishment ! We also had a few players who played for the national team for the very first time and with a little more preparation who knows what will be possible in the next few years !"
GetHo’ : Any teams you really looked forward to playing ? Or looked up to ?
"Germany was really the best team at the EYUC. They strolled through the tournament without getting any real opposition…
Great Britain was also pretty impressive, but very unlike the other EYUC’s I’ve seen them play. They didn’t seem as unbeatable as other times and it seemed like they had a whole new team without any real superstarts except for maybe one or two real exceptional players.. They usually have a whole team of exceptionally talented youngsters.
To me Austria was the revelation of the year !
In Southampton they lost every game with scores like 15-2 and 15-3 and now they played finals against Germany !
They also played with a really high spirit and the combination of skills and spirit really made them my favourites.
Another team that looked really strong was Italy , they had a lot of players who already played in the Italian Open team from teams like Cota Rica and CUS Bologna.
In my opinion our team ended at a nice ranking after teams like these…"
GetHo’ : What was your general impression of the Championship ?
"Unfortunately we didn’t have enough players in our 14man squad. We always had somebody who had to miss a game due to an injury or some aches and pains... In the end we only had about 10 players left and that was far from enough.
Next year we’ll definitely will bring 20 players !
What made this EYUC stand out from others was that there were only 13 teams in the Under20 division… I believe this could be way more.
Next to that it was really cool to stay,play and walk around in an Olympic village ! Even the finals were played in the big stadium !
It also seemed that the level was a little lower than other years.."
GetHo’ : Any other special events during the week ?
"When one of our coaches Olivier (Mooncatchers) had his birthday and when the Germans started speeching during the ceremony after their convincing win they got the whole crowd singing happy birthday for him. That was pretty amazing !"
GetHo’ : Anything else to add ?
"I’ve already played 6 European Championships and I believe that Spirit of the Game is really Belgium’s highlight ! Playing like we are supposed to without taking advantage of the rules.
I also believe we have so much potential with the Belgian junior teams but when we compare ourselves to teams who really come prepared and take everything really serious, that we aren’t really doing a great job. We could do much more if we had a little more practices in our small country. We heard that the Germand youngsters had 2 practices a month and that’s really something to learn from. Next to that it’s also massively important to be in good shape to be able to make that extra cut or do that extra run and keep up with your man. I think that with enough players and the right amount of preparation Belgium will be able to (“break some pots”) show some amazing stuff.
I get to play with Under20 one more year so it would be super if we could accomplish some nice things with a superteam next year !!"
Belgian is known for having a good spirit tradition and it's something I'm particularly proud of, even though sometimes the heat can get going in decisive games.
Spirit is something that should be thaught to young players and that is why they need good examples.
It's the most important aspect of our game, and so we should all be really proud of our youngsters who are all very talented.
Here's a little interview with Tom Honings , who is one of the bright young talented Diabolic Heaven players, the youngest to attend the Belgian Open team at EUC2011 (European Ultimate Championships,Slovenia) and the captain of the Belgian Under20 Team at EYUC2011.
At the age of 18 he already played 5(!!) European Youth Championships and 1 EUC !!Note : This interview was freely translated by myself.
GetHo’ : How did the Belgians do ? How bout the level of play ?
"I was under the impression that the level had changed a little. This was probably caused by the fact that a lot juniors from previous EYUC’s were too old to still play in the U20 division.
As far as the Belgians go, we had a great level for such a young team. Our average age was 17 and that’s quite amazing in the Under20 division where 2 or 3 more years of experience can change a lot.
In the end we got to the 8th place out of 13 and without any preparation and only having 14 players this was quite an accomplishment ! We also had a few players who played for the national team for the very first time and with a little more preparation who knows what will be possible in the next few years !"
GetHo’ : Any teams you really looked forward to playing ? Or looked up to ?
"Germany was really the best team at the EYUC. They strolled through the tournament without getting any real opposition…
Great Britain was also pretty impressive, but very unlike the other EYUC’s I’ve seen them play. They didn’t seem as unbeatable as other times and it seemed like they had a whole new team without any real superstarts except for maybe one or two real exceptional players.. They usually have a whole team of exceptionally talented youngsters.
To me Austria was the revelation of the year !
In Southampton they lost every game with scores like 15-2 and 15-3 and now they played finals against Germany !
They also played with a really high spirit and the combination of skills and spirit really made them my favourites.
Another team that looked really strong was Italy , they had a lot of players who already played in the Italian Open team from teams like Cota Rica and CUS Bologna.
In my opinion our team ended at a nice ranking after teams like these…"
GetHo’ : What was your general impression of the Championship ?
"Unfortunately we didn’t have enough players in our 14man squad. We always had somebody who had to miss a game due to an injury or some aches and pains... In the end we only had about 10 players left and that was far from enough.
Next year we’ll definitely will bring 20 players !
What made this EYUC stand out from others was that there were only 13 teams in the Under20 division… I believe this could be way more.
Next to that it was really cool to stay,play and walk around in an Olympic village ! Even the finals were played in the big stadium !
It also seemed that the level was a little lower than other years.."
GetHo’ : Any other special events during the week ?
"When one of our coaches Olivier (Mooncatchers) had his birthday and when the Germans started speeching during the ceremony after their convincing win they got the whole crowd singing happy birthday for him. That was pretty amazing !"
GetHo’ : Anything else to add ?
"I’ve already played 6 European Championships and I believe that Spirit of the Game is really Belgium’s highlight ! Playing like we are supposed to without taking advantage of the rules.
I also believe we have so much potential with the Belgian junior teams but when we compare ourselves to teams who really come prepared and take everything really serious, that we aren’t really doing a great job. We could do much more if we had a little more practices in our small country. We heard that the Germand youngsters had 2 practices a month and that’s really something to learn from. Next to that it’s also massively important to be in good shape to be able to make that extra cut or do that extra run and keep up with your man. I think that with enough players and the right amount of preparation Belgium will be able to (“break some pots”) show some amazing stuff.
I get to play with Under20 one more year so it would be super if we could accomplish some nice things with a superteam next year !!"
Mooi interview. Smaakt naar nog. Heb Tom's eerste Europees tornooi in Southampton meegemaakt. hij is indrukwekkende Carrière aan 't maken. Heeft al meer caps dan zijn interviewer! :-)
BeantwoordenVerwijderenBlijkbaar is het of de spirit winnen en onderaan het klassement zitten of bovenaan het klassement en laatste in de spirit-score :(
BeantwoordenVerwijderenHopelijk nemen de junioren dezelfde houding mee naar latere tornooien.
C.