To the Youth Fund Sports & Culture Amsterdam page
Tom Hiebendaal
European and Dutch Hockey Champion Tom Hiebendaal has been playing for top club Bloemendaal since 2020. Together with teammate and good friend Caspar van Dijk He has become an ambassador for the Amsterdam Youth Fund for Sport & Culture. "Sports are one of the most important activities for a child. Every child has the right to participate in sports, and that's the main reason I'm committed to the Amsterdam Youth Fund for Sport & Culture."
Highlights…
Copyright (c) Koen Suyk
Before I started playing hockey, I played tennis and soccer. Two sports I still cherish. I started playing hockey at HC Klein Zwitserland (KZ) in The Hague. At fifteen, I joined HGC, where I enjoyed nine wonderful years. During that time, I also played for all the Dutch youth teams, winning several awards: Gold at the European U16 Championship, Silver at the European U21 Championship, Bronze at the World U21 Championship, and Gold at the European U21 Championship. I'm very proud of being named Talent of the Year in the premier league twice. It's an award no one has ever won twice.
…and lows
Copyright (c) Koen Suyk
Every top-level sports career unfortunately also has its low points. The low point of my career was a long injury that lasted two and a half years. Because of my injury, I transferred to the Amsterdam Men's 1 team at the age of twenty-three. During that season, I completed my bachelor's degree in Law at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and played for the German champions Uhlenhorst Mülheim for a year. After playing in Germany that year, I returned to the University of Amsterdam for my master's degree in Private Law and became national and European champion with my new club, HC Bloemendaal.
Inspiration
There are plenty of examples of athletes who faced difficult circumstances as children but still achieved Olympic gold. Dream BIG. Like Michael Phelps:
You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream the further you get
Follow Tom on Instagram: @tomhiebendaal
