By The Hockey Paper
Dutch hockey great Maartje Paumen has played her last game after it was confirmed that the penalty corner specialist will be joining Dutch outfit MOP as assistant coach next season.
After a 17-year club career which spanned Oranje Zwart, Den Bosch and Royal Antwerp, Paumen will return to her home country and work with head coach Ageeth Boomgaardt at MOP Ladies.
Paumen, one of the Netherlands’ greatest women’s players, finished her career in Belgium with Royal Antwerp, where her side just missed out on the Belgium national title after defeat to Waterloo Ducks.
It proved an emotional loss as she fell to her knees at the final hooter in tears, realising that this would prove her last game in club colours.
Now, though, she will turn her attention to regaining trophies from the touchline.
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“The knowledge and experience of Maartje as a player can be of great value to our relatively young team,” said Remco van Lotringen of MOP.
Paumen won 11 national titles and 10 European Cups while with Den Bosch in a stellar career, while she was declared world player of the year in 2011 and 2012.
The 32-year-old also won 12 trophies with the Dutch national team, including two Olympic titles. In all, she scored over 600 goals, with 368 of those coming in the Dutch leagues.
“Ageeth is a wonderful mentor for me,” said Paumen. “MOP is a young ambitious group of girls who want to get better.
“That was the deciding factor for me. I would like to pass on my knowledge and experience to this team.”
