Up to the next chapter

Yesterday ended very special when my colleague Inge and me had dinner with the ten participants of the course 'A Teacher's Road to Excellence' at 'Le Garage', a small and intimate restaurant with good food and an excellent atmosphere. A year of excellence had just come to an end at Dot Groningen where pitches, interactive sessions and a market with results and development in the excellence project was shared. The certificates ans some excellent pictures were handed out to all the teacher's who also had been students for 9 months. https://www.noorderpoort.nl/actueel/aftrap-leergang-excellentie/ 

So this morning I walked from the office to the train station to take me to Schiphol and Prague and could finally read the schedule of today, when we start with the FIBA Time Out project. https://www.fiba.com/europe/programmes/time-out A perfect chance for a former elite player like me to challenge myself at a higher level. Always looking for ways to get the best out my potential. This Master in Leadership and Management will be organised by Northumbria University in New Castle. After this long weekend we will be in England from 8 to 15 july. Most of the program we will follow online and handle with self study. https://www.fiba.com/europe/TIME-OUT-brochure.pdf

So the program showed that we needed to bring our national team uniform. I totally forgot! I only scanned the last emails while being so busy. Trying to figure out a solution I also forgot to check in my ticket. In the train I called some people who could help me and a good plan was born. At Almere I were going to pick up an old unifom at the bookstore where my great friend Matthijs would leave a uniform behind for me on his way to work. Yes, a good plan was born. Excellent! But then I remembered that I forgot the check in. When the train-assistant came, I honestly explained the situation. She sat with me and calmly said; 'what shall we do? Because usually the ticket costs in this situation €50, euro's extra. I said what is necessary has to be done. Then she told me to go check in at the station in Zwolle and everything will be fine. I was very pleased and promised her to be very positive about the train company, because it was such a nice thing to do.

So at Zwolle the other passengers where so kind to let me out first to go run to the check-in gates and back to get on the train again within 3 minutes... Off course the doors closed just in front of me and my whole well-thought-out plan was gone. Momentarily stuck in Zwolle and I would not have enough time to get off the next train at Almere, pick up the uniform and be in time at Schiphol with a train later. Called Matthijs, called it off, asked my Dutch study-mate Naomi about the back-up plan. She already left home and didn't bring an extra jersey.

And then I knew again how impulsive and chaotic I can be. And how it all can fall to pieces. But then there always will arise a solution. The good thing is that I did bring my favourite orange running shirt, that was an national team jersey without 'Nederland', any number or logo printed on it. That had to be good enough for now. Many people know me as structured, disciplined and well-organised. I realised that those are definitely no talents of me, but developed qualities that are visible under optimal circumstances. Surely not when I am tired or stressed.

Although Schiphol was very crowded, everything went well "with the most heavily secured airport check-in ever experienced" and I met Naomi at the gate. The plane seemed overbooked, but everything sorted out. We laughed about this story so far... Then after the departure being high up in the air, I realised that I forgot to check out at the Schiphol train station!!! Funny but a waste of money, even if I saved money from Groningen to Zwolle. So after a good flight and landing in Prague, I called the helpdesk of the train company. She could not find my check-in at the system and probably I checked in with the local train and bus company???

And there we were meeting the other participants from all European countries. It looked like a land of Giants, where I can look most of the female players straight in the eyes. But the one of 2.02 meter and most of the guys are a lot taller. What do we do wrong with all the taller players we have available in The Netherlands? Maybe this Master in Leadership and Management can help to make better decisions in the future to get the most out of the potential there is. https://www.fiba.com/playershub1

I am very thankful to the Dutch Basketball Federation(NBB) for choosing me to join this great program. I hope the experiences and the knowledge that Naomi and me are going to gather, will immediately and effectively come to use for a better development of young basketball players. Since I am working already many years with talent development in the fields of in sports and education, I hope to add much more by doing research in talent recognition in both fields.

The qualities I have to offer will get stronger and with leading by example and show everybody that the best way to change is the world can be done by changing first yourself might be a good first step in leadership and management. I dare to show my vulnurabilities and make the connections which are necessary for the next generations.

To be continued... Also with very nice pictures in national team uniforms and impressions from the Women Eurobasket games.