Bloemendaal, 28 MAY 2007 - Faithful readers will have noticed that I didn't write a message on Sunday. We were entirely broken. Completely empty and played out. During a season in which almost everything went the way we wanted, losing leaves you with a very strange feeling. For months, we've been preparing for the Europe Cup. Yesterday during our game against Terrassa a whole team's dream was shattered.

When you lose in a top sport you get the feeling you can't describe it to someone who's never gone through it themself. It makes you feel empty, sick and sad. At the same time, you're angry about all the missed chances, the umpires' decisions and your own actions. Back at the hotel, everything seemed so hard to take in that we all found ourselves wandering aimlessly between our rooms. Was that goal fair or not? Was the season a failure after all? Why didn't we push harder in the second half?

However, this morning I noticed again how special our team is. Cees Koppelaar took us to the beach for a little bit of jogging on the sand and the needed stretching exercises. You could see that the team was really driven to show how much they wanted to win. Even our disappointment was still fresh, we had an even stronger feeling of wanting to show the club that people hadn't supported us for nothing. For months, more than 400 volunteers have been busy organising things to turn this tournament into a fantastic event. We owed it to them to celebrate one more time and to end our season in a great way.

And it was a great finish. We beat the English hockey champs by 6-2, thanks to some fantastic hockey. And once more we could treat our loyal fans to something we've excelled at all season: hockey played at a not-to-be believed tempo. Thanks in part to this great ending, we could thank our public for their four days of support with our heads held high. It gave me goose bumps to see about 5,000 people show their support with a standing ovation. When we got to the corner where the Bloemigans stand during games, they started to sing “You'll never walk alone”. Experiencing these kinds of things at a club is so extraordinary to me. I know that no one on our team will ever forget it. It's an image I'll keep in my memory for a long, long time.

See you next season,

Lodewijk