Women’s European Championship 2017 has begun at Baku and a dutch media nrc.nl has interviewed a few key players including middle blocker Robin de Kurijf. While Robin is confident that the team is ready for the European Championship title, it is revealed that the entire national team of the Netherlands remains perplexed about a sudden and unexpected departure of head coach Giovanni Guidetti, who now takes the helm of Turkish national team.
The 26 years old middle blocker admitted that the unexpected departure of Guidetti last December has a big impact to the team. Under his effective coaching and guidance, the team had been well groomed to be one of the world’s top tier teams again that the team clinched the silver medal in EC 2015 and finished Rio Olympics in the 4th place, the best result ever. After the Rio OG, he extended his contract with the Netherlands and accordingly he told the team about his vision and plans towards Tokyo Olympics 2020.
It appeared that the unexpected resignation was purely due to the birth of his baby girl as Guidetti demanded more personal time with his expanded family. However, his joining to Turkey as new head coach has shocked the entire Dutch team. Robin holds an opinion that the baby girl was just an excuse and money could be the ultimate reason behind. It is also suspected that Guidetti might risk his club career as head coach of VakifBank if he did not take the national team’s offer (VaifBank is the sponsor of the Turkish national team).
Like other players, de Kurijf is disappointed about Guidetti’s departure and has not spoken to her former coach anymore. The anger might have turned into motivation in EC. The captain is looking forward to the next head to head encounter with Turkey in the tournament where the Dutch players will prove to Guidetti that he has made a wrong decision with their results.
