Team Netherlands' Lioness: Maret Grothues
Story of the Day
Today is the sixth day of Pool D competitions at #EuroVolleyW.
Team Ukraine won against Sweden in the BT Arena in a crucial match, preventing Sweden from ranking third in the Pool D.
The second match was the duel between group favourites Turkey and team Finland. Turkey won and maintained their record: 4 wins out of 4 games.
On 24 August, Turkey is going to play against another great favourite: Netherlands.
For the moment, Netherlands is in first place in Pool D. On 22 August, NED played against host Romania and took victory with an amazing game both in attack and defense.
We had the pleasure to interview Maret Grothues. She played ECH 7 times: 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and she won the silver with her team in 2009, 2015 and 2017.
Maret, thank you very much for your availability. First question: what does a good Outside spiker need to have as strengths points in your opinion?
“I think, in general, an outside spiker has a lot of control on the court. There are two kinds of outside hitters. One is more of a defence and reception player, and the other one is more the attacker and blocker. As an outside spiker you can do all aspects on the court and that is the most beautiful thing, in my opinion. ”
What does it mean for you to play at EuroVolley in this particular year, with the pandemic situation still present, and how did your team prepare itself for this competition?
“We are happy to play in Romania now because the audience is very welcoming here in the arena. After a two years break we can play again for the spectators. Until now we have played some friendly matches against France, and we had a tournament in Hungary. It is always good to play these friendly games to see where the team stands. We also had great preparations in the Netherlands, and we were able to win the first two matches here in Cluj-Napoca. We hope to continue like this and we will see what happens next.”
We notice that you have a mascot for Netherlands; what is its meaning for you and which is your talisman in general as a team?
“I will be honest with you, I saw the mascots for the first time yesterday. I will have to ask our physio-therapist about it because he brought it with him. The mascot itself is a lion, and for The Netherlands it’s a symbol of luck for every national team, it doesn’t matter which sport you play.”
You won 3 silver medals on ECH already. Will gold be an option this time?
“It is always an option! But of course, first we need to finish this group stage. Turkey is a really strong team, whom we will face next Tuesday, and then it depends who we will meet in the quarter-final. If we win these key matches, we can be in the final four, and then everything is possible. Of course, after winning the silver medal and being so close to the gold medal, I really wish this tournament will be lucky for us, but for now, let’s take it step by step and day by day.”