Marie Degekema from Groningen is a player in the national team. It plays its matches with Swedish club SDE from Stockholm in the First Division. She left for Scandinavia two years ago. Partly for adventure, but mainly to become a better ice hockey player.

I reached a good level

Meanwhile, the Dutch players have reached a good level. This resulted in two consecutive World Cup promotions. The National Olympic Committee / National Science Foundation recently pledged to support the path towards the Winter Olympics.

We are now receiving additional help to achieve our goal

Extra help

We decided to take steps together and we did and left a lot for it. Now others are also seeing that we did a lot on our own. “ We are now receiving additional help to achieve our goal, ” says Dejkima.

Not long ago, the season ended in Sweden. She and her team were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the playoffs.

More ice is available

Thanks to support, more Papendal training can be done in the near future, and more ice is also available. In addition, financial resources are now sufficiently available for a successful qualification process. The first tournament is due to start in October.

This gives a huge boost to getting everything out of it

The competitors are Poland, Mexico and Turkey. If you look at the rankings, we just have to make it happen. Then follow matches against stronger opponents. “If you win that too, you will be in the Olympics,” explains Dijkima, 20.

Like a culprit

In recent years, the ice hockey federation has often requested support from the Olympic Committee and other sporting organizations. It was, in fact, a call to be taken very seriously. The hand was kept on the wallet and the sport saw a lot of headwinds. Now that the performance has skyrocketed, there is enough support to embrace the women’s team.

This gives a huge boost to getting the most out of it. That is why I started playing in Sweden because I want to be an important player for the team. But I think we are a group where everyone counts so that we can attend the games together, ” Dijkema concluded with hope.

Read also:
– Marie Dijkima will play ice hockey at the highest level in Sweden (video)
Ice hockey players from Groningen qualify for the World Cup (video)
– The ice hockey player Groningen to the World Cup in South Korea