Fourth Annual Dutch Open shows polocrosse is continuing to grow on Mainland Europe
Report by Fleur Bartels

On the weekend of the 12th and 13th of September, the 4th Dutch Open tournament took place in Exloërveen (North-East Holland). There were 11 teams playing from Germany and Holland in 3 different categories: A, B and C.

The A final on Sunday afternoon was between the teams Holland 3, with Thomas Bakker, Having Steenhuis and Marieke Smallegange, and Kananohe A from Germany, with Sascha Beck, Solveign Grage and Caren Ollenschläger. It was a very exciting final with a score of 2-2 at the end of the the second chukka. But in the last chukka Thomas scored another 2 goals and Holland won the A category with a score of 4-2.

The B-teams played a round robin and Avalon, a German team, won this category. Their no.1 player, Max Schellerer, was in top form and scored, during the whole tournament, a massive 42 goal.! The Dutch B team with Nathalie Garben, Niels Kemperman and Mijndert Heineke were in second place and they were followed by Stelingen B1 in third and Stelingen B2 in fourth.

Also the C-teams (the beginners) competed in a round robin. It was a pleasure to see that there were so many new Dutch players who played there first tournament. Kananohe C, who played more tournaments before, won this grade. But it was very close with the new team Holland C3, consisting ofLeanne Boekholdt, Charlotte vd Haar and Roseline vd Haar. These girls did an amazing job together and played really well as a team. Third place went to Holland C1 and fourth to Holland C2.

The tournament was a great success with exciting games and a lot of fun was had by all.

The Dutch Polocrosse season doesn't end with the Open as next week six Dutch players travel to Norway to play the Norwegians in a test match at Rauland. The Dutch team will be Having Steenhuis, Marieke Smallegange, Maarten Luitse, Mijndert Heineke, Fleur Bartels, Thomas Bakker and Bennie Meijerhof.

The continued growth of polocrosse within Europe is a good sign for the sport in general and for countries such as the UK and Ireland in particular, who have been working with the European countries in order to grow the sport in the run up to the Polocrosse World Cup being held in the UK in 2011.

For more information on Dutch polocrosse go to www.polocrosse.nl

Best Horse: Jonathan (owner Kerstin Scheinpflug)

Best Horse and Rider combination: Thomas Bakker with Morris