Popular activist Nadine Visser says goodbye to national coach Bart Penema after ten years

For Ad Roskam, the IAAF’s technical director until the end of this year, all options for her future are negotiable. “In the end, it doesn’t matter where our athletes train, as long as they win medals.”

Visser posted her announcement of her split from Bennema on her Instagram page on Tuesday. Ten years later, Bart was deposited as my coach. It was a difficult decision after such a long cooperation.”

Roskam knows that Visser’s breakup with Penema is not out of dissatisfaction. “Ten years is a very long time,” he says. The best earlier date between the athlete and coach is usually reached after about five to eight years. Then you often see an athlete looking for something new, without really knowing what it is.

Wesser finds himself in this position. This year, she missed the World Cup final and clinched the European Championship by 0.01 seconds over the bronze. It was a disappointment, but that can be explained by the broken start to the season. She suffered a hamstring injury in the spring, just as she did in the Olympic year. Despite this, she made it to the final in Tokyo. This time her body cooperated less with the recovery. Roskam: “After a difficult season, he’s curious about something else even earlier.”

Prospective Coaches Association

In the coming period, Visser will determine how she wants to shape her future on the athletics track. This is done in consultation with the athletics federation, because perhaps Visser can go to one of the other national coaches. “We’re still going to explore different options, but we have more good coaches in Pappendale.”

Roskam mentions Ronald Vetter, who as an all-around coach is well versed in the discipline. This also applies to former Mercamper Ingmar Voss, who has been working as a talent coach for over a year. Perhaps there are others who have experience in sprinting. “Intense running is very technical, but every all-around coach and speed coach has experience with it.” Panama itself is a case in point. He was initially the all-players national coach, and in this capacity he got Visser under his wing. Only in the past five years has she devoted herself exclusively to obstacles.

Life after Papendal

Visser can also continue without a national coach and join a Dutch coach outside the federation system or with a group abroad. Roskam is open to anything, although he is the man who has been emphatically aiming to centralize Papendal’s top athletic program in recent years. Roskam acknowledges that the topography of the Arnhem Forest is the central center of expertise and the focus of the Federation’s programmes, but she: “It is not a central dogma. We don’t have the perfect coach for everyone in Pappendale.

There are many more who have called in recent years with the blessing of the Papendal Athletics Federation. For example, discus thrower and lead batsman Jorinde van Klinken trains in America at the University of Oregon. Last year, Daphne Schippers also transferred from Penema to former national team coach Wigert Thonesen and strength coaches Colin Dam and Martin Hoekstra. Many facilities are still used in Papendal.

Sevan Hassan Papindal left after the 2016 Olympics, and went to the Nike Oregon Project in the United States, which is still headquartered, even after the project itself was halted due to the doping scandal involving coach Alberto Salazar.

Thanks to her sponsor Nike, she can pay her coach Tim Robery, but the two-time Olympic champion can also count on financial support from the Netherlands. Of course, the costs of publication in the European and world championships are paid by the federation, but the training camps that take place immediately before that are also funded. The athletics association withdrew the wallet for a high-rise room in Hassan’s home. This way we choose the items we can help with. We meet twice a year and have constant contact between them.

Such a scenario can also be envisaged for Visser. She does not have a large financial scope like Hassan, but she can count on sponsorship income and thus the support of the athletics federation. Roskam believes that whatever the outcome, there is no need to worry about her future. “Nadine is very good, she can go anywhere.”