Aerospace student Mauryze Brug thinks playing baseball is a great way to meet new people.
(Photo: Heather Montague)
“I’m studying aerospace engineering and I’m in my third year. It’s all going according to plan so I will finish it this year and then next year I’ll start a master’s. I plan to do control and operations.
I come from Curaçao, which is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. My native language isn’t Dutch, it’s Papiamentu. I have been living in the Netherlands now for two years, but I have family here and old school mates from high school that came here to study, so I had been here to visit before that.
I played baseball before I came here because in Curaçao it’s the most popular sport, along with football. A lot of players from Curaçao play professionally in the US. Here I play with the Hitmanics, which is the baseball and softball organisation for students. We’re welcoming new members, either players with experience or people that just want to try it out. We have room for everyone.
‘All our teams are mixed with both men and women’
We have three teams, two baseball teams and one softball team. All our teams are mixed with both men and women. The higher up you get it tends to be more male dominated, but in theory you can play on any team if you’re good enough. For example, one of our members plays for the Dutch women’s national team and she plays on the baseball team with us.
What I enjoy most about being part of the club is that if you’re not someone who likes to go out partying and stuff like that, you can make friends this way. Baseball isn’t the most popular sport in the Netherlands, so chances are you’re going to find more international students who are interested in it. For me it’s interesting to get to know people from other parts of the world so that I can also learn a bit about their countries. And it’s also a very relaxed sport. You can play it at a high level if you wish, but you can also just play for the fun and enjoyment.”
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Heather Montague / Freelance writer
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