Harmen Jan van Ark
In September 2016 Harmen Jan van Ark started as a professional coach for the freshman teams. Since then Gyas has had three teams become Dutch champions in freshman rowing.
In the season of 2016-2017 the heavyweight men’s eight was Dutch champion.
In the season of 2017-2018 two teams from Gyas were able to crown themselves as Dutch champions, the women’s and lightweight men’s eights. The heavyweight men’s eight was third. Having three teams in the top-3 Gyas was best preforming student rowing club in the Netherlands with respect to freshman’s rowing. For Gyas this was also the best result that has ever been achieved with two champions and three top-3 teams.
Under the supervision of Harmen Jan van Ark Gyas is consistently represented in the top-3 of the freshman divisions. By structuring the entire year through a long-term plan and professionalization of the various conditions for success, Harmen Jan ensures that between 35 and 40 rowers have a successful start to their rowing career. A career that can even lead towards Olympic success.
Frank Schmitz
Frank Schmitz has been very involved with TAM for more than fifteen years. He is responsible for the unity that has evolved throughout the whole selected team. For years he has been the coach of the leading team, but we can say he is much more than that. His vision and approach are a very important cause to the performances of the top players, in particular the performances of the leading team, TC BOO. Because of his work, the top players of TAM have worked towards a stable pyramid, in which TCBOO is the main point of focus. Franks spirit is irreplaceable and a key component for the success of our tennis club.
Dorus Heijnen
Last month we went through the evaluation of our Tandje Hoger cycling-beginners course and “Dorus” was often a positive point in the feedback. The enthusiasm and experience Dorus shows in his trainings is special. Not only on the road but also in the spinning room. Although most people consider spinning as an hour of suffering, Dorus can enjoy a class where everyone goes completely to his/her maximum. The endless enthusiasm of the riders on the road makes Dorus a happy man. Therefore you can often find him with a huge smile on his face during a training. What characterizes Dorus is that he tells it like it is and that is what people appreciate in him.
Dorus has been the trainer of the competition section of Tandje Hoger for years and last year also of the NCK ladies team and beginners course. Dorus did all this while he was in the Feringa research group to complete the final phase of his PhD Chemistry.
This summer he completed his PhD and started his postdoc. Please do not ask Dorus about his research, because you probably won’t understand much of it.
On sports or academic level, Dorus is jack of all trades and an valuable asset for cycling!
Simon Leistra
Simon started judo at the Mattekloppers in 1995 and started training and coaching judokas at the Mattekloppers in 2005. He trained and coached a lot of champions over the years. He coached Maarten Majoor, Alert Holtman, Marcel Joling, Tim Bleeker en Grietzen Bouma to a medal at the Dutch Championships. He also coached Berend Roorda, three time Dutch Champion and third at the World Cup. This year he accompanied 3 judokas to the Dutch Championships. Simon travels through lots of different countries with his judokas. Simon also always coaches the Mattekloppers in team tournaments, with a third place at the Dutch Championships for teams being the best result so far. He gives two very tough trainings in the week and prepares the judokas mentally for the tournaments. Even though the trainings are heavy, Simon finds that there is always a little bit of time for some fun. His motto is: Working hard on a basis of enjoyment. This is very present in the great atmosphere of the training.
