Van der Linden was delighted with the flowers.
‘It’s right that we’ve won’, she said as she left the stage at the Bongerd sports hall. Last year she and the Ladies first eleven rose to the second highest level in the outdoor competition and highest level in the indoor competition. And that really means working harder: ‘If you don’t play well now, you lose.’
Top scorer
The fourth year student of Nutrition and Health is now playing for the second year in Wageningen. She is enjoying it and is doing well: she was the top outdoor scorer last year. She has been playing hockey since she was five, but she still loves it. ‘It is a team sport and I want to get as far as possible.’ For a long time she still travelled back home to play with her old club. In the end she transferred to Wageningen because she could play a level higher there. She does not know how high she can go. ‘But I don’t think I’ll make the Dutch selection.’
With three or four training sessions a week and a competition almost weekly, her sporting diary is still fairly manageable. She fits in her work at treasurer for Thymos sports foundation around it. ‘I am fanatical about any sport I do.’
Bennekom
Skier and student of Animal Sciences Anna Jochemsen, eighth in the world championships in her class last year, lost the contest for the title of sportswoman of the year to a course-mate who has already graduated, Rabo runner Annemiek van Vleuten, winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen and the world cup, among other races. But no matter what Jochemsen’s sporting achievements are this year, she won’t be Wageningen sportswoman of the year. Because she has just moved to Bennekom.