Yibbi Jansen: Following in a father’s footsteps one penalty corner at a time
Hockey supremacy and the Netherlands often go hand-in-hand. Meet young Yibbi Jansen, the rising star of hockey forging her way own to the top, after being inspired by her dad Ronald.
Hockey
“‘I want to experience this too,’” hockey star Yibbi Jansen said, turning to her double Olympic champion father, Ronald Jansen.
The year was 2012, and the two were sat side-by-side in the crowd at the Riverbank arena watching their national team, the Netherlands, dismantle Great Britain in the men’s hockey semi-final. Not even the ringing sound of God Save the Queen from an urging home crowd could halt the momentum of the Dutch who went on to thrash the home side: 9-2.
Watching her nation at their best, and knowing her father had once been a part of the infamous Oranje when he won back-to-back Olympic golds at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, 12-year-old Jansen realised in that moment what it all meant.
After the Netherlands came up short against Germany in the final to win silver, Jansen left London 2012, but not before the Olympics left an impression on her.
She had been inspired by what she had witnessed, and was resolute that it was something one day, she would repeat.
Hitting headlines
London 2012 may have been a turning point in the mind of a young Jansen aspiring for hockey greatness, but for her father, it was clear that the competitive fire was already well and truly burning within his daughter.
“After a match it was never good,” Jansen Snr shared to NOS. “She always wanted to win. Even unsportsmanlike.”
It was something that he recognised all too well: “That is typical of a top athlete. You always look for the limits to progress.”
And progress Jansen did. At 15 Jansen made headlines when she debuted in the Hoofdklasse Dames Hockey league – the highest level of women's club hockey in the country - for HC Den Bosch.
When she joined, Den Bosch were reigning premiers, boasting an impressive ability to string national titles together. Starting her professional career at the club signalled to all watching and playing the enormity of Jansen’s potential.
It therefore came as a great shock that after lifting the 2015/2016 title trophy with the club in her maiden season, Jansen announced she would be leaving the side to join Oranje-Rood, a mid-table team.
It was a decision that attracted as much attention as when she first joined the club. Why would a rising star leave a side that she was effectively guaranteed to keep winning titles with?
For Jansen, it was about personal development.
At Den Bosch, Jansen had been confined to defence, often selected to play at right or left back. When it came to taking short corners, she was in a queue behind the big guns: Maartje Pauman, Ireen van den Assem, and Frédérique Matla.
If her dreams of donning orange were to be realised, she had to find other avenues where she could push herself, and that could not happen in the shadow of others.
“Of course I knew I would get a lot of reactions. Also comments that wouldn’t be nice. Everyone thinks differently about such a transfer. That is understandable and I have accepted that,” Jansen explained,to hockey.nl when justifying her decision.
“I think it is important at a young age not only to train your penalty corner, but also to have to push under pressure in the game.”
“People said, among other things, that I am not ready to play in midfield, or to take the penalty corner. Well that’s just a reason for me to train even harder.”
A flick of the wrist and a flash of form
Jansen’s decision to link up with drag flick specialist Toon Siepman at Oranj-Rood quickly bore fruit.
Flashes of goal scoring brilliance from the young hockey star, now 17, saw her name begin to appear in conversations surrounding the national team.
She moved quickly to downplay them, but her continuing run of searing form, both at her club and in the Dutch junior team, meant talk around her selection only got louder. Jansen herself was surprised at the speed at which she was progressing.
In January 2018, the call finally came and Jansen made her debut for the Netherlands national team for a friendly against the United States.
Later in the year, she retained her place in the squad to compete in the final edition of the Champions Trophy in China. The Dutch team emerged victorious in Changzou, dismantling reigning Olympic champions Great Britain 4-0 on their way to the title.
It was Jansen’s first taste of tournament success in orange.
The future is bright
Since 2018, Jansen has remained a consistent feature in the national side.
She was selected for the 2019 and 2020 Dutch FIH Pro League side and helped her team lift the trophy in the league’s inaugural year.
National coach Alyson Annan retained the penalty corner specialist in her initial 22 player-squad selected in 2019 to begin preparations for Tokyo 2020, now to be staged in 2021.
However, in early 2020 Jansen learned that her journey to the Games was to be ended early after she was dropped from the team.
“Of course that wasn’t fun,” Jansen shared when opening up about the news her Olympic dream wouldn’t yet be reality. “Obviously I had hoped that I had been in the race longer.”
However, that very same competitive spirit that burns inside Jansen, that her Olympian father identified so early on in his daughter, was still flickering away when she talked about how she would bounce back from the early disappointment, and look towards the Paris 2024 Games.
“I do my best as much as possible. I like every competition I get to participate. I just learn from that. I try to seize the opportunities that I get.”
The best, for Yibbi Jansen, is surely yet to come.