PHILIPSBURG--Young hockey players from the St. Maarten Hockey Club received a special treat this past Saturday when they were given a clinic by Olympic field hockey gold medallists Sophie Polkamp and Kim Lammers at the Belvedere sports ground.
The pair arrived on island on Thursday and departed on Monday. Their short visit included an invitation by Heineken to sail in the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta on Sunday with the “Something Hot” all-girls team.
About a dozen young children up to 15 years old took part in the clinic and were clearly in awe of the two hockey stars.
“Basic skills are most important; passing the ball well, ball position should be great, hitting the ball right, your hands in the right position, all these simple things are so important, especially at this age,” explained Lammers. “These kids are just starting. This is what we did today and they did pretty well. They improved a lot I noticed, just by making some simple changes. They understood team work and ball position.”
A number of sponsors made the combination of the hockey clinic and the regatta outing possible for the two Olympians.
“It was very nice to have the opportunity to bring some hockey experience to St. Maarten and meet such nice people,” added Lammers who is still active as an assistant coach and is on stand-by occasionally as a player when injuries occur.
Now retired, Lammers (35) won gold at the 2012 London Olympics but did not compete in the Bejing Olympics because of injury. In 2014 she was World Champion again and has won every medal that you can win with the national team. She holds two World Championship gold medals and four European Championship trophies, in addition to being top scorer for the Holland League twice.
Sophie Polkamp has two gold medals, one each from Bejing and the London Olympics. Sophie played in defence and Kim Lammers is a striker. Sophie retired after the London Olympics due to injury.
“This was a win-win situation, both for us and for Heineken, to have hockey royalty here,” commented Paul Dijkhoffz from the Hockey Club. “It’s really cool to have them do this training and hopefully we can do this again next year. The kids enjoyed it. It was great to see the energy and the smiles.
