Martina Van der Molen, a life of continuous improvement

Martina Van der Molen has been at Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires for six yearsbut the feeling that drains into his veins for Muni It seems that he has been coming for more than a lifetime and in this interview with AM850.com he expanded on what happens in his days.

Martina’s beginnings were far from Munibut close to the goal and had the intervention of a legend of the position to motivate her: “The first memory I have defending the three suits was when Manuel Belgrano used to play.that one day the goalkeeper we had in eighth class was missing, she had coach Belen Succiand asked if anyone wants to be an archer, and I raised my hand. Magically, from the first day I had her, she was a coach, I was bitten by the bug of wanting to be a goalkeeper, I put on the pads and from then on I never took them off.”.

Now, speaking of Club Ciudad, the goalkeeper has very fresh her beginnings in the vicinity of the institution that serves as a venue on Avenida del Libertador: “The first memory I have of Muni It is in training with Marisol (Saenz), when she took the test in 2017. I approached because I wanted to look for more competition, which unfortunately Belgrano did not give me, and After being in the first team in Buenos Aires that I played when I was 14, a contact friend of my mother came calling, they told me, hey, do you want to try out? I didn’t even doubt it”.

And he added: “Marisol saw me, she said that Marcelo Blanco wanted to see me, who was the goalkeeping coach, who is still with the club, and I went back to training with them this week. There they gave me the ok, This was at the end of the year in 2017, in December 2017 I started training with the teams, and in 2018 I started playing in the sixth division at the club.”, recalled the goalkeeper.

Van der Molen had to start his path in the Primera de Muni in a squad full of strongholds, but the blow was not so strong since in the Minors they had great legends of national and international hockey: “Luckily I felt part of it quite quickly, the girls adopted me very well, at the beginning it was to enter the club and see Carlita (Rebecchi), there was Juli Jankunasand I started having as coach Maru Scaroneto Marianita González Olivaand it was: wow. Then you naturalize it, I don’t know if it’s that good, because you lose a little respect for it, but it is also believing it, feeling that you are up to the task, without losing your humility, or letting your ego get the better of you, I never devalued myself, I always felt that I was fit for the position I was occupying and I had the mentality of saying: ‘I’m going to do it. have to earn’, and once I earned it, now I have to keep itand I like this, being constantly competing, that’s why I changed the club, and that’s why I’m at Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires, which is a lot, and Every so often I fall, I say, since I was 18 years old, I’m 21, I’ve been in First Division for three years now, which seems like a lot to me, but then I say, the truth is that it’s for a reason.”.

The long-awaited presentation in First Division did not take long to arrive, in the middle of the changing of the guard (because Marisol Saenz had announced her retirement) the technical director on duty told her that it was her time and she felt prepared: “Juan Pacheco was the coach, and he told me: ‘On Saturday you are going to play.’nerves, and a lot of emotions went through me, but the truth is that I felt good, very supported by the team, they understood me a lot, because the position of goalkeeper is made over the years, and with the goals you score, the only way is to have a field, it is not easy to get a foothold, it is not like any player who comes in for two minutes and they take you out, and you are having little by little“I always say, they threw me into the lion’s cage, and well, get by, but luckily I felt very supported.”

In addition, he emphasized the situation of frustrations that the position coexists with: “And that of the ego, First you have to destroy it, to then master it, and understand when to use it, neither by saving a game well are you the most capable, nor by taking a goal are you rubbish, it is something that must be worked out over time, the goalkeeper’s head is very Thus, you cannot keep the previous ball, because another one will always come, and if you stay with the last one, the next one will probably be a goal. What makes a goalkeeper in large part is the mentality, you can be agile, very fast, but if you don’t have a strong head, it is very complicated, there is also the confidence that you transmit to your team, and to yourself.”

Although Martina is aware that the importance in creating future goalkeepers is far from adequate, she also tries to leave her legacy in the club that continues to train her: “The position is very difficult and most coaches, not being goalkeepers, are not qualified to train goalkeepers.. Many times the stimuli are boring for you because they make a ball route and end with a shot on goal, what if they shoot on goal… and everything we already know, But I try to do my part in the club by being in training, giving some advice to some goalkeeper: ‘Hey, stand like this, hold the stick like this, when they come from the front, stand like this.’ It would be good to start training, we need a physical part focused on what we do, coordination, reaction, explosive movements, but it is also up to us, with the years of experience, which mine are very few, to contribute this, what we feel that necessary, and to be able to contribute little by little to make the position grow.”

Perhaps the year for the City of Buenos Aires did not end as expected, the expectations of the Núñez Club is always to fight for the top positions, but at the moment other concerns invade it and it is to form a team that has the tools to aspire for more: “For me the main thing is to understand that we are a very young team, the average age is 22 years old, we are all girls who, due to the situation of the club, left as minors and started playing in the Primera, which was not something that happened in Muni before.and we lack that maturity, to be more caught up, to tolerate frustrations more. I think that this is mainly gained over the years, by fighting relegations, by being at the bottom of the table, and understanding that, game by game, year by year. Afterwards, the game part, I feel that we need a little more work on the areas, both defensive and offensive, being a second earlier, are detailsbecause, from what we have seen this year, the truth is that we play against many teams, but those details are what make us where we are today,” said the goalkeeper.

There was also time to say thank you, and before finishing the interview Martina took a moment to think: “Thank my team, because I am very happy where I am, and the entire club, in fact this year we felt a lot of support from the entire club.of all the girls who came to see us all the games, and most of all thank you to the club that opened the doors, It gave me the opportunity to grow and become the person I am today.”concluded Van der Molen.