– At some moments we show how good we can play. The problem is that when we are under pressure, we aren’t able to come out fast – told about the situation in CMC Ravenna Niels Klapwijk.

 

Your team hasn’t played in WCh since 2002. The lack of the promotion to WCh 2014 has to be a disappointment.

Niels Klapwijk: – Of course it is a big disappointment. We’ve got nobody in our current group who played in WCh before. Realistically speaking, we were in a group with a team who is the number 6 of the world and we are not even near that. We knew before the tournament that it would be very difficult to qualify.

Let’s talk about Ravenna. How do you feel there? How’s going your cooperation with coach Bonitta?

– I feel good in Ravenna and the organization is great. The city is beautiful. My cooperation with the coach is good.

What is happening with CMC? Nobody expected that with such team you’d be on on such low place in the classification.

– I didn’t expect it at the beginning of the season as well. We have a whole new team; only Mengozzi played here last year. A lot of players from the starting six came late, because we had the European Championship. So it was not a surprise that the start would be difficult. We had to get used to each other on the court which takes some time. It may be clear that this place is below our potential.

In some games you’ve got chances to win – you’re leading and then you’ve got those ups and downs. What’s the reason?

– At some moments we show how good we can play. The problem is that when we are under pressure, we aren’t able to come out fast. We lose too many points in a row. We have got to learn to play with the same confidence in difficult periods during the match as we are doing during good periods.

How about the atmosphere in the team? You’ve lost 8 games and such losses don’t make the good spirit in the team.

– It is hard to lose so much. We work really hard day in day out. No sportsman likes to lose. We continue and I believe that our hard work will pay off. I hope we can show it the second round.

source: siatka.org
photo: Joanna Skólimowska