Extra: Anouk Stam

Hi! My name is Anouk Stam and I’m 21 years old. Next to my studies Operations Research, I play field hockey in the first team of Pinoké (D1). As a player of this team, I work out four times a week on the field, each weekend a game and two times a week strength training. Each field work out takes two hours, and on Thursday we even have two: one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Luckily, in our team the priorities are as following: health, education, field hockey. Since this year my Operations Research’s tutorials are scheduled Thursday afternoons, I miss the Thursday afternoon workout.

I always try to keep up with the lectures and tutorials, whenever I can I attend class. This saves a lot of time when exam preparations start, and makes the combination of a full-time studies and field hockey possible. Since I was a child, I have always worked out at least three times a week and each weekend a game, which forced me to plan properly.

During the winter, we don’t play outside on the field, but we move indoors. This field is much smaller and the ball rolls much faster. A totally different, but  clever and fast game! In general, June and July are for the holidays, which I then enjoy very much. It’s expected that you stay in shape, but during the preparations, which start in August, we work out a lot to fully get back into shape.

Due to my strict planning, I still have enough time to spend with my friends and family. Luckily, I also find them often in the crowd as support at my games!

During the workouts and games, we wear a GPS device and heart rate monitor, the results of the devices are used to determine the level of the workouts. In this way, we try to work the best we can and prevent injuries. Next to the players, the team exists of a coach, trainer, manager, two physiotherapists, a trainer (for our running technique) and an exercise physiologist.  As you can see, our health is in safe hands! The exercise physiologist examines the data from the GPS and heart beat monitor and provides advice based on this data.

Thanks to field hockey, I have gathered good planning and teamwork skills. Next to that, it gives me a great group of friends and beautiful moments. As for example, I became national champion three times, every year we go abroad for a field trip and not insignificant: as the first team we are a great example to the youth and club!