The European Championship game with France(6-0) was less than five minutes old when Marijn Veen threw her arms in the air. The Dutch striker had put her team up 1-0. Those who looked closely saw something striking: around her left hand was a brace.
Marijn Veen is playing the tournament with an injury to her thumb. An injury she sustained at the end of June, during a training session with the Dutch national team. She wanted to fetch a ball and sat on the ground with her left hand, but her thumb was in the way. Her finger twisted backwards and the strap of her thumb tore through. An unfortunate moment that immediately made her count.
‘Basically after six weeks it’s healed and then you start building up. But we just did it a little faster,’ Veen says with a big smile. ‘I started doing exercises early on and now it just feels good. I just need my brace to make sure that if I fall, my thumb doesn’t overstretch.’
Marijn Veen’s route
Some players hobble from tournament to tournament without too many problems. For Veen, that doesn’t quite hold true. She is definitely a fixture in the Orange, but her route is occasionally different. Injuries are not unknown territory for Veen. A limp in her foot, knee or a lingering concussion.
‘Most of all, I’m just glad I made it back. And right on time,” she laughs. ‘Maybe the great thing about being injured once in a while is that you can also heal well.’ Of course she can laugh about it now, but that’s that one side. Because of course she had to deal with ups and downs in recent years. ‘I always just kept faith in my own qualities and talent. Making sure I would be fit. Everyone was nice to me, too. You didn’t need long, you never needed long, they said.’ They know the striker. ‘I’m kind of an expert with rehab. Because I got to play so many cool tournaments despite my limp. It’s part of it, apparently. Because of my previous injuries, I know what it’s like and what I have to do to come back.’
Photo: Willem Vernes
She thought the unfortunate moment at Orange training would not be too bad. When she later heard how serious it actually was, she was shocked. It clearly wasn’t just something. ‘I was just lucky that my ligament was still right.’ For two weeks she ran herself ragged while everyone else was busy training. ‘That was really awful, but we made the best of it. If this had happened to my foot, the European Championships would have been finished anyway.’
Four weeks after all her miles of running, her brace was finally allowed to come off. At least, during the day-to-day. With sleeping, playing field hockey and other strenuous activities, she still has to wear it. ‘When I saw my thumb again for the first time, I really thought, oh my god. It was stiff, I couldn’t move it and it was very thin. My whole tendon was suddenly visible and there was zero strength in my thumb,’ she describes the phase, 3.5 weeks before the start of the European Championships.
When she could clay again, she knew it was going to be okay
‘Then I did wonder for a while if it would work out. I was just practicing at home. Moving, finger to finger, squeezing things, pulling rubber bands. When at one point I was allowed to play clay, it felt good. And the brace supported her actions. ‘That gave me some strength again.’
Photo: Willem Vernes
The first time she held her stick again was uncomfortable, to say the least. ‘What am I doing, I thought,’ she recounts. ‘How am I going to pull this off again?’ But Veen once again found her way and her own way. The feeling came back, as did the power. When it worked with ball and stick, she knew for sure. This tournament was not in jeopardy. Because after two training sessions and three practice matches, she was in Mönchengladbach.
And so the arms went sky-high in the air at the end of the afternoon on Wednesday. In a kind of shoot-out, she worked the 1-0 against the board. As if she never does anything else. What’s more, it was already her second of the tournament. And that, of course, is very nice for a striker.
The brace can finally come off in September
The smile on her face gets even bigger when she thinks about the semifinals. She feels so much like a match, about all or nothing. Spain is technical and agile in the small space,” she describes her opponent on Friday. In fact, exactly the qualities she also possesses. ‘That will be a nice challenge,’ she grins.
‘After the EC my brace can come off again. Then it’s all done,’ she is relieved. No more brace, but still a gold medal? She laughs. ‘That’s what we’re going for. With such a nice white hand, because it hasn’t seen the sun for a while.’
Photo: Willem Vernes
