My name is Brenda Beers and I am 20 years old. I started playing “peanutbal” (Kids play this in preparation for base- or softball) when I was 7. I got in touch with the game because of a coach who came to my elementary school for a clinic. A few kids from my class and I loved the game, so we started a team at Double Stars Heiloo. After 2 years of peanut ball I started softball. When I was 13 I went to an high school where they also had special softball classes. That same year a coach from Alcmaria Victrix contacted me and asked me to play for her team. When I was 16 I played my first game in the professional league. 2 years later I decided it was time for some new experiences, so I went to Olympia Haarlem.
Beside my club team I’m also playing for the Dutch national team. We have a unique program compared to most European or even worldwide programs. We have the possibility to train 4 times a week with 24 girls. We train on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday for 3 and an half hour and on Wednesday we train for 1 hour and play an evening game against an All-star team or Men softball team. Right now we are preparing for the European Championship, the final roster which will include 17 girls is not yet announced.
Of course you have to sacrifice a lot of things to make things happen and so did I. I would not have been able to do it without the support of my boyfriend and family. They made it possible for me to do whatever was needed. An example of one of those sacrifices is my study. I study physiotherapy at the Hogeschool of Amsterdam. Normally this study takes 4 years, but due to my busy softball schedule I built in a delay of one year. I would make those sacrifices every single time in order to full fill my dream “Getting the medal at the Olympics!”.
Brenda