Always look around the next corner, you never know what you might find.
While studying law in Amsterdam, Maurits decided to follow his heart and become a professional coach in his sport, hockey. In 15 years of coaching he took his team to winning many championships including multiple Olympic Medals with both the Netherlands and Spain national hockey team, learning to speak Spanish fluently in 90 days.
He then became responsible for all sports in the Netherlands spearheading the Dutch Olympic Committee. With his team of experts he led the Netherlands in to the top 10 Olympic and Paralympic medal rankings. He designed successful talent pathways for many sports. He drove gender balance in dutch olympic and paralympic sport. As a coach and Chef de Mission he has worked at 11 consecutive Olympic Games from Atlanta 1996 to Beijing 2022.
Maurits is known for his innovative power. He is an experienced leader when it comes to areas such as Talent pathways, winning teams, cultural diversity and technological support. He has been credited with innovation in hockey, such as the “self-pass”, the Euro Hockey League and the blue hockey pitch at the Olympic Games.
How did I unlock my potential?
Decided to abandon my studies and career path to follow my passion. My passion is to coach, to take a team of young people to the next level, to find out how we can improve, to endeavour in the journey of learning and taking on anyone. Learning about a game, a skill, a process, understanding it and then taking it to a new level.