The Netherlands:

Tijmen Reyenga (25) is one of those players that you can recognize on the field by a fine dribble or a splitting backhand pass. A defender with guts and a playful style, which sometimes still looks like one of the youngest in the selection. He has a new role in this European championship: as the second corner man of the team he can push when Jip Janssen is not on the field.

“That takes some getting used to,” says Reyenga laughing. But it was the same at the last European championship. I still have to gain a lot of rhythm and especially experience. Yet I think it’s great that I can already do it. I just assume that I will make another goal, “he grinned.

That could have happened to the Belgians after about ten minutes. Reyenga was indeed in the lines when the orange got the very first corner of the game. A short look at the dugout was enough: it was his turn. His first push landed on the stick of Outrunner Victor Wegnez, but he got another chance from the rebound. It landed on the belly of goalkeeper Loic van Doren, after which the ball fell into the stick of Terrance Pieters. He hit the ball: 1-0 for the Netherlands and an assist for Reyenga.

As soon as Janssen is not, Reyenga thinks too much

“In that first corner I thought too much,” he admitted. ‘All kinds of things shoot through my head: what am I going to do, where am I going to push … I get so little turn that grinding started. But I really have to stay sober and do my thing. That is a lesson for the next time. He laughs. Is Jip Janssen not in it once, the defender thinks too long. “May I try …,” he laughs. “Haha. I thought for a moment: yes, Jip is not in it. Good for my experience. But Jip is our main corner and he will always be. ‘

Reyenga would hardly push any corners at all. During the trip to Australia (for a training camp and pro -competition competitions) at the beginning of this year, the staff decided to put his corners on their back burner. “There was no progression and it just wasn’t there,” he looks back.

‘Jeroen Delmée and Eric Verboom also gave me a wake-up call: they missed the old Tijmen. Eric always called me random runner, named after those slot machines in a casino. Someone who popped up everywhere, without thinking. ‘So a slot machine where you throw in a coin, without knowing what comes out – but always hopeful. ‘I was always shitty about things, but had become too solid, too busy with my defensive duels. I was boring. ‘

I was always just shining things, but had become too solid, too busy with my defensive duels. I was boring. Tijmen Reyenga

Yet he did not resign himself to the decision of the Orange staff. “I didn’t listen and continued to train secretly. At Oranje-Rood they needed me as a pusher, so that I could continue to work with Toon Siepman. ‘So together with the penalty corner Guru, he refined his technique without anyone knowing it. And with success: his corner got a little better again. ‘I am not as good as a Timo Boers or Pepijn van der Heijden, but I think it is cool that I can still fill in for the national team. And who knows … in a few years. Maybe my corner is just as good as Jip’s. Or better, that I can push earlier. But I don’t believe that, haha. But I keep dreaming.

An extensive field hockey package

The fact that Reyenga was appointed a second choice at the head of the circle had everything to do with the fact that Boers and Van der Heijden did not make the selection of the European Championship. A bit of luck for Reyenga, who is especially happy that he now has a little more in his field hockey package. A collection of qualities that he hopes to miss no other selection. Nobody can ignore the defender of Brabant anymore. Because after the World Cup and the European Championship in 2023 the role as a reserve at the Olympic Games in Paris was painful.

The push of Tijmen Reyenga. Photo: Willam Vernes

“Of course it was a disappointment that I was not a basic player,” says Reyenga. ‘But I still have something nice out. I played two games and even scored, “he looks back. The Olympic Games gave him unexpected highlights. After his return, for example, he was honored at FC Den Bosch, the club where he has had a season ticket for years. “I am there every Friday with friends in the supporters’ box. And if I can’t keep an eye on my phone, like last weekend. I think 99 percent of people in the stadium during my congratulations had no idea who I was, but it was great to stand there.”

A tattoo on its upper arm

And with that came a lasting memory. A tattoo of the Olympic rings now adorns the back of its upper arm. “I always said I would get one when I went to the games. I hesitated for a while because I was only a reserve. But after two games and a goal I thought it was good. ‘

But with or without a tattoo or honorable mention, Reyenga is especially happy to be back there like the old Tijmen. ‘I make my actions again and my death is just tight again. A bit of freewheeling is who I am and what adorns me. “Don’t think, but do it,” like with his corner. “I always have to hold that,” he says to himself. “Even if I don’t have 66 but 166 international games soon.” He laughs. ‘Instead of always going full, I will probably weigh more often in the future when I have to go forward and when I have to take a breathing break. Don’t always go, go, go. ‘

Photo: Willem Vernes