First one of our Brian Sullivan LONDON DOUBLES Interviews! I would like to introduce you Tom Van Der Voort, from The Netherlands, several times international including more recently in Marseille in 2012. Bronze Medal in the Team Youth European Championship and Silver Medal in the Shooting of the same European Championship. Tom is not only a great guy but a talented player full of respect for his opponents. He has been several times Dutch Champions and come from a true family of petanque players. Welcome to London Tom! Name: Tom Surname: van der Voort Country: The Netherlands Club: ’t Petangeske (Bergen op Zoom) Preferred pétanque position: Milieu Boule model: CX Cou , 74, 710 Herve: Tom, welcome to London! We are delighted to have you with us. Tell us what you expect from your trip in London this August? TVDV: A feeling of being on a holiday. I don’t expect us to achieve a certain result. What matters to me more is that I have had a fantastic weekend once I arrived back at home. And don’t forget the friend requests on Facebook, meeting new great people is always of importance to me. Herve: What do you think of Londoners? TVDV: Can I still feel safe when I say I’ve never been in London before? I only know that Herve and Vince live in London. If all the Londoners are the same as the both of them, then reserve me a place for next year’s competition please. Herve: What do you think of the pétanque in England? TVDV: I like the way English people play petanque. Those who I have met seem to find having fun more important than winning a game. And I share that thought. About the ‘quality’, I’m not sure. I actually haven’t seen so much English petanque players during a game. All I can say is the people I have been playing against did their job pretty well. I don’t think there is much difference between English and Dutch petanque players. If there is a difference… Herve: Whos your pétanque idol and why does he/she inspires you? TVDV: I don’t think I do have a PETANQUE Idol. Players should not look up to someone for qualities they don’t have, but neither should players get to big for their boots. I can’t make a decision of who my petanque idol is, because I don’t want to base that decision on only the quality of their game. Herve: What about in real life, do you have someone that you look up to? TVDV: I do have an idol in real life. ‘Sven Kramer’, long track speedskater. His confidence and perseverance to always wanting to be the best, inspires me. Not because he has the highest possible target in mind, but because he constantly wants to surpass himself with the discipline to continue after he fails (disqualification on the Olympic Games 4 years ago). Everyone out there ‘knew’ he would become Olympic Champion, but he didn’t. With all the pressure that came on him, he tried to live up to these expectations again and immediatly looked forward to 4 years later. But only, because he wants to surpass himself. Herve. Whats your best ever moment in pétanque? TVDV: My best moment in petanque happened when I realised enjoying is of way more importance than achieving certain results. Don’t be surprised, but that moment took place 4 years ago when I decided to stay at my local petanque club. Since that moment I enjoy it much more than before. Of course, I have achieved some nice results during the 7 years before this moment. Achievements such as becoming 3rd at the European Youth Championship, becoming 2nd at the European Youth Precision Shooting Championship, becoming Dutch Champion doubles with a great friend of mine and of course the moment my dream came through to participate to the highest possible championship in Marseille. Herve: And the worse? TVDV: After I got to know I could enjoy everything related to petanque more, I decided to play with a local team with who I had lots of fun with. In the end we managed to qualify ourself for the qualification rounds for a World or European Championship. This is a really big reward for us, since we aren’t the best team out there regarding to the qualities of the individuals. However, knowing we only had to win one more game (during the final day we held the 1st position, but we only managed to win one game out of 7 this day) to assure the qualification for the World Championship next year has been a really sad moment. Not because we didn’t manage to qualify ourself. It is because I know it’s going to be hard for me, but especially for the two other guys, to get this close to qualification for such a big championship again. They are my friends and they have been playing and behaving very well. It still makes me sad when I think about it, because it would have been the best reward possible. Herve: If there is one thing that you would like to achieve in pétanque, what is it? TVDV: I like the psychological side of sports in general. Therefore I think I would really love to become a coach of a Dutch team who represents our country on an European or World Championship. Herve: If you had to take one person on holiday with you and your choice was: Sarah Huntley, Rachel Shaw or Sammy Thatcher, who would you take and why? TVDV: It would have to be Sammy Thatcher because she plays with my sister in London. Normally all my friends play with me because they fancy Lieke. So I only assume that she plays with Lieke because she fancies me. :-)
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 20:04:44 +0000
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