Rick VAN DER VEN: “My mental game is my strongest asset”

11 June 2013

Antalya

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VAN DER VEN started archery as an 8-year-old, after watching his cousins compete in a local competition. A couple of years later, he joined the national youth selection of the Netherlands and after a few years, was asked together with some other juniors to form the national senior team for their country. Since then, this young team has achieved great success at the international level, including gold medals at the last outdoor and indoor European Championships, where VAN DER VEN also picked up the two individual gold medals at stake. After a strong fourth-place finish at the London Olympic Games, VAN DER VEN is now focusing on the new World Cup season.

You have been progressing year after year. Tell us about it.
Yes, it has been my goal for the last couple of years to get better every year and get better results than the previous year.

What is your strongest asset?
My mental game. It’s quite normal for me to not show nervousness throughout a competition. Usually when a competition starts the first round is the most tense for me. I put a lot of pressure on myself to survive qualifications and the first elimination rounds. After that it becomes more fun and easier. It comes naturally to me, and it’s part of my character. In every sport I think a good mental game helps you get better results.

What is your proudest achievement so far?
That’s a difficult question! The European Indoor and Outdoor Championships have been significant results for me, but so has my fourth place at the Olympic Games. I think I would still choose London, it was special to place fourth at my first Olympics, and it was probably my best result.

What did you learn from the Olympic Games?
Not so much actually. Every match I shoot is the same for me. It’s a game, so I try to shoot every match the same way. Basically it’s the same as shooting a World Cup or World Championships, except that every thing around is much bigger, the media, the size of the venues, this might make an impression on some people and lead to lower results for them, but I try to concentrate more on the matches rather than all that was happening around it.

What was the impact of your performance in London in your country?
It brought a lot of media attention to our federation and we had a lot of young people getting into archery. We hope to keep them in archery, so that we can have more national level archers; more rivalry tends to produce better results.

Please tell us about your training routine.
The whole team lives and trains together at the National Sports Centre Papendal, near Arnhem. We see each other every day of the week, and most of the time also during weekends at competitions in the Netherlands. It is a factor of success for our team: we build up a nice bond with each other all day long, we get to know each other and know what to say to motivate each other. This helps us shoot better in the team events.

How did you adapt to the change of coach for the Netherlands, from Wietse VAN ALTEN to Ron VAN DER HOFF?
For me it doesn’t matter that much who is behind me, because I’m really focused on myself and on my own game. I already know what I do right or wrong when I shoot an arrow, but other people lean more on the coach to know what they need to do or not do. There are differences between Wietse VAN ALTEN and Ron VAN DER HOFF but they are both good coaches to me.

Do your individual successes give you a special role within the team?
I don’t have a different role that the other two guys. We just try to shoot the best we can, we have to motivate each other in the team rounds in order to stay focused throughout the rounds, that’s everyone’s role.

How do you see the future of your team?
In Shanghai three weeks ago, our team finished fourth, which was a very good start to the outdoor season. We hope to maintain this level throughout the season and maybe get a medal at a World Cup and hopefully get a good result at the World Championships next autumn. Those will be our main goals.

Finally, what are your personal goals for 2013?
Every year my ultimate goal is the World Cup Final. Since it is usually the last event of the outdoor season, it motivates me to keep my focus throughout the whole season. I have already achieved qualification but it is still my main goal every year.

Visit Rick’s official website at www.rickvanderven.com for more information, results and photos.

Biography Extract

Rick VAN DER VEN (NED) – Born 14 April 1991

6th

Individual

World Cup stage 1 – Shanghai

2013

4th

Team

World Cup stage 1 – Shanghai

2013

1st