In this BDO Champions Trophy, many people consider the Dutch team one of the favorites, and team captain Minke Booij thinks so, too.

With this the first event of 2007, the Dutch team have been training for it since November. Minke explains that “three players quit and others are injured, so the team is quite new and needs a lot of training”. Despite this the captain feels it is a solid team with an excellent defense.

The priority for the team is to qualify for Beijing 2008, but they do not show much concern about it. Minke comments, “Our defense is very efficient, and if we came first in the World Cup during 2006, I don’t see why we cannot continue winning this year.” Obviously, the team does not consider qualification an obstacle.

The Dutch team trains a lot during the year which is why Minke considers that with her 30 years of age she is at optimum level, and says “I feel much fitter than some others now, because I have learnt to eat and to train. When I was 20, I thought I could eat anything because I trained a lot and that was all. Experience teaches you your own limits.”

When she is not traveling or training, Minke is either with her boyfriend, a hockey coach, or working. She works in her father’s company as an account manager. The company sells school supplies – and as one of hockey’s famous faces, Minke is an asset to the firm. She comments that “it is very important to have a profession aside from hockey, and in the future, I would like to become a businesswoman.”

Although she is planning for the future already, we will surely still see a lot of Minke Booij in the next few years with her seemingly unlimited energy to deliver on the field.