Eight months ago Kitty Vloemans thought her international career was over by virtue of a knee injury and the birth of her twin sons, but the Netherlands qualifying for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 changed all that.
The carrot of one last big hurrah on the global stage at the first ever Rugby World Cup Sevens to feature a women’s event proved too strong to turn down and just eight weeks after the twins were born she was back in training.
Initial fears she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the rest of the players when she rejoined them in October proved unfounded, her eagerness to return to fitness enough motivation to put in the long hours.
“I missed the European Championships, [the region’s RWC Sevens qualifier in Limoges, France] but I started training eight weeks after the boys were born on 2 June. I was afraid I couldn’t keep up with the girls, but I did.
“I was very eager to go training again, but I had had a c-section so I had to take it very slowly. I went training with the girls in October so I was quite fit and they were amazed I was that fit at the moment in time.
“At the beginning I had to ask myself if I really wanted to do this with the boys and I thought my international career was over, but the girls qualified for the World Cup so that was something I didn’t want to miss.”
Final appearance a bonus
The Netherlands reached the final of the European Championships, an achievement which came as something of a surprise to Vloemans and her partner Silvester Ramakers, the national Women’s Sevens coach.
That is not to say that securing one of the five places on offer from Europe for the 16-team competition in Dubai wasn’t their target from the qualifier because it definitely was, but they exceeded their expectations as finalists.
“I heard about the tournament from the other girls as I couldn’t go because the boys were born, but they were very eager and I was quite amazed that the girls were second in that qualifying tournament,” added Vloemans.
Ramakers added: “Our goal was to qualify for the World Cup, then we reached the final against England and it was more like a bonus, the girls didn’t play so well in that final.
“They had qualified by beating Italy and it was such a relief, I think they let their concentration slip and the final against England wasn’t good, it was a bit too much for them.
No cards on the table
“England are one of the top sides and a world champion contender. I think it would not be 50-0 if we met again, but a good game. England are used to playing finals, we didn’t have that maybe. It was a valuable lesson for us.”
The team have had to contend with frozen pitches over the last month, but next weekend they had to Malaga for a tournament involving two others sides heading to Dubai for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Spain and France.
France, ironically, will await the Netherlands in Dubai along with Oceania champions Australia and China in Pool A, but Ramakers is quick to point out they won’t be giving anything away in Malaga.
“We are going to meet France, who unfortunately are in our pool. We know what we can expect from them, but you don’t put all your cards on the table in a practice tournament, although it will be good to practice and see how things work.
“We have played China a couple of times and Australia 10 years ago in Hong Kong. They are a top side and potential finalists and they beat the Silver Ferns (New Zealand) in their qualifier. That will be an awesome test for us.
Focus solely on Sevens
“We hope to come second or first in our pool, that is our main goal, making it to the final eight and we would hope to have a good draw then, but there will be some good sides we have to beat.
“That is the main goal and if we can achieve that we will be really happy. You never know what will happen and hopefully we will leave a good opinion on people.”
Ramakers has certainly left no stone unturned in his attempts to achieve that goal with the players allowed to concentrate solely on Sevens, a unique decision which has upped the level of interest in the side.
“We hauled them out of fifteens and fully concentrated on Sevens and that is the first time a decision like that has been made and it started people thinking about it, taking it seriously and it must be like that.
“To haul them out of competition upsets some people, but other people said we understand if you have to qualify and play in the World Cup you must be well prepared and they are not easy sides to be played.”
