Dutch World Champion Goalkeeper  x2
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| Planet Field Hockey |
September 11, 2000 
Off The Crossbar
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Name: Bart Looije
Age: 31
Clubs Played for: Tempo'34, HC Rotterdam, HGC, HC Amsterdam and again HC Rotterdam
Years on National Teams: 1990-94, 1997-8
Major Tournaments:
Club (and placing): European Cup Winners Cup: 1992 (1), 1993 (1), 1994 (2), 1996 (4), 1998 (1)
European Cup for Champions: 1991 (3), 1995 (2), 1997 (2)
Tournaments with National Team:
Champions Trophy's: 1990 (2), 1991 (4),1992 (3),1993 (3),1994 (3)
European Championship: 1991 (2)
World Championship: 1998 (1)
Olympic Games: 1992 (4)
OTC: When and why did you begin playing?
BL: I started playing hockey when I was fourteen. I wanted to do a sport and didn't know if I wanted to play soccer or hockey. One thing I was certain of: I wanted to be a goalie.
OTC: What made you choose your position as Goalkeeper?
BL: The spectacular saves you can make and the idea of being important for the team made me choose to be a goalkeeper. I think the goalkeeper is the most important player on the pitch. If you have good forwards but a bad goalkeeper you can still easily lose. If you got bad forwards and a good goalkeeper the chance that you will lose is less.
OTC: What is your most memorable hockey moment, and why?
BL: I have several. With my club team I won the club championships because we won the penalty strokes at the end. Always a good moment for a goalkeeper.
Internationally the World Cup in Utrecht was a special experience.
OTC: Holland is recognized as the best hockey nation right now for men, and very close for women - why do you think this is?
BL: In Holland we have got a lot of clubs where a lot of youth is playing hockey. Almost every club has artificial grass, most water-based artificial grass. The distance between the clubs and the cities is much smaller then in a country like Canada. A lot of youngsters get good practices and games at their clubs, but also on the national youth teams. We have a lot of experienced trainers (coaches) and the Dutch Association has good courses.
A lot of Dutch people are playing hockey. To give you an example: my club (the biggest in Holland) has over 1500 players.
OTC: Do you think Holland will win the Olympics this year?
BL: The Dutch men played very well at the Champions Trophy in Amstelveen this year. They impressed against Australia, Korea, Great Britain and also Germany. It's an unwritten rule that the country that wins the Champions Trophy in the same year as the Olympics will not win the title. Only Germany in 1992 succeeded in doing that. But the Dutch are very strong this year, and they have a good chance.
I think the Dutch will reach the semi-finals. After the semis it's hard to say but I put my money on the Dutch, in the final against Germany.
Goalkeeping
OTC: What makes a good goalkeeper?
BL: A good goalkeeper is a goalie you can rely on as a team. It's very important that the team feels that the goalie can save them. The spectacular saves are good and nice, but they are worth nothing if the goalie lets in a very easy ball. The goalkeeper who saves the one ball he'll get a game is a very good one.
International goalies have to practice hard on the penalty corners as well. The PC has always been an important aspect of the game. If a goalie is able to neutralize many PC's he will help his team a lot. But the PC defence is not the job of the goalie on his own. It's a team effort for the PC defence.
OTC: What are the most important skills to train?
BL: To be a reliable goalie is a goalie who has good basic skills. That means that as a goalie you have to run through a lot of repetitions of saving balls in the right basic way. I think on Off The Crossbar you will put up a number of exercises or videos that will help the goalie. In Holland I coach during a Goalie camp. Each year 30 goalies will get together and will be coached by the best in Holland. Hari Kant and Mike Mahood were staff members this year as well. Each year the Dutch national goalie, Dutch national goalie coaches will come at this camp. The goalies get training with ball machines, rebound boards, tennis balls and lots more. In the evenings there are also a lot of social programs. If anyone wants info on these goalie camps please E-mail me at bartlooije@hotmail.com
OTC: What advice would you give to a young goalkeeper?
BL: Train hard, but above all don't lose your fun in the game. And come to Holland to learn about the Dutch way.
Your hockey career
OTC: What are your aspirations/goals as a player and as a coach?
BL: As a player I would like to play one or two years and get my team (Rotterdam) to stay in the Hoofdklasse (top hockey league) as a dangerous team. Hopefully Rotterdam will be champions one day.
As a coach I enjoyed being a goalie coach for the Canadian side a lot. I would like to do more coaching in the world of hockey, to see more countries and meet more people. That would be very interesting.
OTC: Is it difficult to make a living playing hockey in Holland?
BL: In Holland you can make a living as a player. You'll have to coach youngsters to make a living, but probably you have to find a job as well. In Holland we have no professional players, but some foreign players who want to play in our competition. They'll play in the first team, coach youngsters and get provided with a house for a certain period.
OTC: What do you do outside hockey?
BL: Outside hockey I work with a free newspaper. The paper is on the internet and I provide the content and the websites.
OTC: Is it difficult to play hockey and work in Holland?
BL: In Holland we practice three times a week with our club, and on Sunday you play a match. Sometimes it's difficult to combine work and hockey, but because it's a hobby you make the effort in combining them. On Sundays it's always a lot of fun. After the game you drink a beer with your opponents and because the clubs are big in Holland there are a lot of people playing and watching.
OTC: Do you think hockey is caught between being an amateur and a professional sport?
BL: In Holland hockey is caught between an amateur and a professional sport. Some international players are getting some money. It is difficult because some clubs have more money. Hockey will never be as big as soccer and will never get the TV money, because hockey is difficult to see on TV and the rules are difficult for a lot of people.
OTC: Why do you think hockey is so special as a sport? (the whole idea of the hockey community being a big family)
BL: A lot of students and working men and women are playing hockey as a hobby. At the field and in the clubhouse everybody meets a lot of people. The atmosphere is great, so the feeling of a big family is there. Hockey players all over the world are the kind of people who are interesting, kind and easy to talk to. Wherever you go over the world is always good to speak to people who play hockey.
OTC: Do you think this will be jeopardised by a move to professionalism?
BL: Professionalism will divide the first team and the rest of the club much further in Holland which is not a good direction.
OTC: Do you think there are any rules that should be changed?
BL: The most important thing about ruling is that we have to except that the rules are good at the moment. For people who don't play hockey it is very confusing that each year a rule is changed. I think the new rule has to be: don't change rules!
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