QSTA United Women 1 gears up for the new season

Next week the basketball training sessions within United Basketball start up again, including for the team competing in the Women’s Basketball League. The team competed under the name Lekdetec.nl for the past 13 seasons, but after all this time Lekdetec is stepping down as the team’s name sponsor. It was announced earlier that QSTA, as the club’s new partner, will among other things become the new name sponsor of the women’s team, so next season starts as QSTA United.

Not only does the team start with a new name, but also with a new coach. At the end of last season Mark Hooiveld was appointed as the new head coach. A good moment, just before the season, to ask the North Holland native about developments and his expectations.

Just before the summer you were appointed as the new coach in the Women’s Basketball League. What did your summer look like?

Just before the summer I spoke with all the current players and, together with the staff, went looking for additions to the squad. We brought in two familiar faces returning to Bemmel, namely Ilse Waanders and Bo Teulings. From the existing squad we lost Anne van Vlijmen, who after many years chose a new adventure in Barendrecht. Kris Biesters is definitively hanging up her shoes.

Besides a lovely holiday with my family, the summer mainly consisted of a lot of consultation with the coaches of our women’s teams, in which we discussed the squads and the development of the individual players and set about building a new programme.

What does the squad look like for the coming season?

I think it’s important to note that we really work from a programme, which means we play in varying line-ups. Of course we have our fixed core, made up of: Yordi Kathmann, Yfke Hoek, Lisanne de Jonge, Asa Kantebeen, Bo Teulings, Ilse Waanders, Rinske Scholten, Denise Peters and Brechte Norel.

Lisanne de Jonge, who became a mother for the second time on 9 July, will soon return to the squad. Yfke Hoek (pictured), who tore her cruciate ligament last season, we expect back in the second part of the season. Her recovery is going well, but that process always takes a long time.

Catie Joosten and Mandy van Lente will also fully join the Women 1 programme, but will additionally be part of the Women 2 squad.

Within our core of 13 players that we start with, Skye Love and Janiek Wesseling also join from VU21. They played last season in a combination with Landstede Hammers and are making the full move to United Basketball this season. I’m very impressed by the VU21 team we have; there’s a lot of potential there. So extra VU21 players will regularly join training sessions and possibly, later on, matches too.

And what about the staff?

Alongside coaching the VU21, Steven Teunissen will also act as assistant coach in the coming season. Dennis van Mierle is involved as analyst and will take care of the tactical match preparation and analysis. René van der Wielen, as technical manager, is also very closely involved with the team and will support on the court as well. Egbert Broeren remains our trusted team manager.

We would also like to involve female coaches in our programme; we haven’t yet been able to tie any to us at this point.

You’ve mentioned building a programme several times now — can you tell us a bit more about that?

Within United Basketball there has been a solid youth development programme on the men’s side for years. The ambition is to further build this out on the women’s side too. There has been women’s and girls’ basketball in Bemmel for quite some time; now we want to seize the moment to take the next step. We can’t do that alone and need the clubs in the region as well. The Dutch Basketball Federation is also very interested in the developments of United Basketball as an academy.

Within this ambition is the offer to provide more training hours to female players in the region, but also expanding our own girls’ line with, for example, a women’s U16 in the future. At the moment we can offer our players 7 basketball training sessions a week, alongside the medical and physical support and facilities available at De Kooi. Something that is not yet so self-evident in women’s basketball in the Netherlands.

Together with Batouwe Basketball we can also use the promotion-division team to give players from our youth minutes at senior level. Here too, the guiding principle is to look at what is best for the player: on the bench in the WBL or on the court in the promotion division. I know which I’d choose…

Last summer we put our plans and ambitions on paper. This plan focuses on our core values, who we want to be, how we organise ourselves and which steps we want to take in the future to further shape our youth development for girls/women. The document also sets out our tactical playing style for the coming seasons. I’m working on this together with René van der Wielen, Dennis Mooibroek (coach of Batouwe Basketball’s promotion-division team), Dennis van Mierle and Steven Teunissen. That plan is now ready in draft, but it remains a document on which we continuously keep working and developing.

The season starts on 16 September with a home game against Startportaal Binnenland. What does the preparation programme look like?

We’ve been able to put together a full but very fine preparation programme. Egbert Broeren (team manager) did a lot of work on this over the summer. Besides the many training sessions, we play a practice match every week in the run-up to the season. To get the fans warmed up for the new season, we do this mainly at De Kooi. The last weekend before the competition we travel with the team to Belgium for a team weekend with two practice matches.

The practice matches in Bemmel:

• Sunday 20 August at 10:30 vs Zorg & Zekerheid Leiden
• Sunday 27 August at 15:45 vs Waregem
• Sunday 3 September at 13:00 vs Sparta Bertrange

What are the expectations for the coming season?

That’s very hard to say, given the many changes at the teams. Unfortunately we don’t (yet) have the possibility to tie (foreign) players to us to strengthen the team; the biggest issue here is housing. As an organisation we need to look at taking the next steps there.

For us, the coming season’s focus is on further rolling out our programme and making the players individually better. Then we’ll also grow further as a team, and I think we can play some really enjoyable matches.

What can the Gelderland public expect from QSTA United?

My style is very energetic, and that’s also what I expect from the players. Results matter, but in the phase we’re in they matter a little less. Fighting hard in training and during matches is what will make us better. That’s the enthusiasm we want to radiate on the court. And it should also make the Gelderland public so enthusiastic that they keep supporting us. I’m looking forward to getting started on Monday!