Van Haaster’s love letter to wheelchair handball

In a few short sentences, this is the story of Joyce van Haaster, an international wheelchair handball icon, who is looking ahead to her seventh championship with the Dutch team, the EHF Wheelchair EURO, taking place in Lithuania from 26 to 30 November. Full of energy and always with a radiant smile, Joyce shares her excitement and happiness of doing what she loves the most — playing handball.
This is her love letter to wheelchair handball.

I’m so excited, I can’t wait, actually, to get started because we have been preparing for such a long time. So, I just think: “Can we go? Can we go!” It’s like a big balloon is inside me, and it wants to go out. Well, it’s like a volcano, it’s bubbling, but now it wants to set off!

We changed the team a bit, because there are a few people who have quit. William (van de Ende) had already quit last year and Mieke (van Chastelet) stopped as well. Mieke is one of my best friends. I will definitely miss her. I will miss my roomie. I will miss the fun with her. We tell each other everything, and we know everything about each other. If one or the other was disappointed about the game or themselves, we could talk to each other and cheer each other up, and help each other.

Oh, and the fun we had, so much laughter together, so yeah, I will miss that. And it isn’t that I don’t have fun with other people, with the rest of my team, but she’s one of my best friends besides handball as well. So, of course, I will miss her…

On the other side, inside the team, it is quite like a small family. I have been a teammate for such a long time with some of them. When I look at them, I am proud of a lot of good steps which we made in the last few months, how we managed it all together and how we clicked with our new coach Liese (Wijngaards). You know that she is only 22 years old? But she is doing very well.  

Looking back at the last few months, I’m also proud of all the things I’ve done until now, because I worked a lot on myself — not only physically, but also mentally — to manage things and to grow and get personal stuff done so that my mind can be clear when I am with the national team and only have to focus on the real thing, well the wheel thing, in wheelchair handball! 

There was one moment when I was talking with one of my friends, Cornèlie (Wijngaard), and there was a realisation that I… I was ill, but after that, I wanted to play sports, but I didn’t want to walk, swim or cycle; I wanted to play a game, and it took me a year before I chose to step into a wheelchair. I worked so hard not to get into the wheelchair, so I was thinking, I’m not going to sit in it for fun.  

And then, as I was talking to my friends, came the realisation of that moment, when I chose for myself to step into a wheelchair, it brought me all this. I was struggling for a year and a half, and asking myself: “What could I do with the rest of my life with sport?” And then the moment came when I made the decision: “Okay, I’m going into that wheelchair.”

It was wheelchair tennis at the start, but I took a step into the wheelchair. That was a moment that was: “Wow! Oh, that’s cool that I made that decision!” This decision gives me my life this way, and it’s a very nice way! 

It's quite a different life I’m experiencing compared to my friends. They have kids, and they have their jobs, but I’ve got my jobs as well. They’re not training like me anymore, but they are so proud of me, and they wish me all the best because they know how much effort I put into it.

One of my next dreams is playing in the final in Lithuania — that’s the goal. We are all quite excited. We really want to kick off, so from the moment that the whistle goes off, direct focus, start, and let’s go!  

There is only one thing I say to myself: “Enjoy, enjoy every minute.” That’s the main thing, because it can be so much hard work, fighting, but I have to remember it’s also for fun and to make joy out of it. Enjoy the whole tournament, everything in the games, and around the games.

I guess this fits well with my name, Joyce.