After a 2-1 win in the playoffs against six-time champions SEW, Janssen was handed the championship trophy last Sunday – the crowning achievement of his coaching career. “It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever accomplished”, he says a few days later, when the celebrations have quietened down and he has time to reflect on how it all started with the club from ’t Veld, a village of just over two thousand people in North Holland.
“There were times early on when I thought, ‘What have I got myself into?’” Janssen recalls – especially that first time he drove from his hometown of Stein in Limburg all the way to the northwest corner of the Netherlands to meet the team. “Over two hundred kilometres, nearly three hours on the road. I’d already signed with the club; they’d arranged a house in the village for me to stay in half the week to avoid the long commute. It was perfect. But it’s the team you have to work with. So when I got in the car on a random weekday to go introduce myself, I did find myself thinking, ‘It’s such a long drive – I really hope we click.’”
The women’s team of North-Holland handball club VZV celebrates the national title
And they did, as Janssen realised at that very first meeting. At the same time, he already knew he’d be making decisions not everyone would like. “The previous coach relied on a small group of five or six regular starters with a big group around them. He was trying to keep everyone happy. I knew straight away that wasn’t how I’d do things. I want to work with the best. That means disappointing people and explaining yourself – not just to the players, but also to the board that brought you in. I took that responsibility. Either you aim for the top or you don’t.”
Shaking things up
That, he says, is where his strength lies – being clear, making decisions, not compromising. “On the court, there’s no room for emotion. Everything must bend to my will. I’ve always been brought in to shake teams up and bring in fresh energy.” And he’s been doing just that ever since landing his first head coaching job at ESC in Stein when he was 21 years old. Since then, his career has taken him to clubs like Margraten, Meeuwen in Belgium, the Dutch youth team, V&L in Geleen (where he’s coached both the men’s and women’s teams) and Manos, the student handball association of Maastricht that introduced him to the university.
“I came here to coach Manos. Not long after, I also started working with V&L. Things were tight financially in Geleen, so I decided to teach strength training myself. I asked UM if I could earn my certification at the sports centre. They said yes, but asked if I’d be willing to work there as well. So I started teaching fitness classes while still coaching handball.”
Small farmhouse
For a long time, he managed to keep those roles separate – teaching students the basics while “diving into pro sport” at V&L. But eventually, he realised he was too driven for amateur university players, and teaching fitness classes no longer fulfilled him either. “I was ready for a change.” The job as building manager at UM SPORTS came at just the right time. When VZV came knocking, Janssen had just stepped down from V&L and thought he was done with handball. “The fire had gone out.”
But the offer from the North-Holland club was too good to pass up: “financially attractive, and a chance to do things my way.” He and his wife Rilana (“her coming with me was non-negotiable”) were invited to the club one Saturday and welcomed with open arms. That same day, they were shown the small farmhouse where they’d be living. “It all felt a bit surreal, but my wife immediately said, ‘I want this.’”
Love-hate relationship
UM SPORTS allowed Janssen to rearrange his hours and work more remotely – “I do a lot of paperwork, so I don’t always need to be on site” – so he could focus on building a title-winning team. He spent Wednesday afternoons through to Saturdays up in the northwest, coaching, watching and analysing matches. “When I started, we were fighting relegation. It’s taken blood, sweat and tears – we’ve played so many matches, had players out with injuries. But now we’ve won the title. It feels like a fairytale come true.”
Janssen’s contract with VZV runs for another year. The club would like to keep him on longer and put him in charge of overhauling their youth academy. Janssen is flattered, but unsure about what the future holds for him. “I usually get a feeling around December about whether I want to carry on. Are all those long drives still worth it if we’re losing? I have a love-hate relationship with handball. I’ve felt sick with nerves before matches, always wanted more and often felt like throwing in the towel. But something new always comes along and pulls me back in. Only in the past few years have I found a bit more peace and become better at taking things as they come. So we’ll see.”