Robert Adriaan van der Horst (; born 17 October 1984) is a Dutch former

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player who played as a defender and currently the assistant coach of the first men's team of Oranje-Rood. He played a total of 272 caps for the Dutch national team, which makes him the seventh most capped Dutch player of all time. He scored 14 goals in his international career which lasted from 2004 until 2016. The defender was the captain of the national teams that finished fourth at the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

and won a silver medal in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. He played club hockey for Oranje Zwart,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

and Oranje-Rood.

Club career

He played in the youth ranks of Oranje Zwart for two years before he got into the first team, in which he played for eight seasons. After those eight seasons, he joined HC Rotterdam. He wanted to leave Oranje Zwart after those eight seasons because he felt that he had so much responsibility for his team and club that it was at the expense of his own development as a hockey player. After three seasons with Rotterdam, he returned to Oranje Zwart. After Oranje Zwart merged in 2016 with EMHC he started playing for the newly formed club

HC Oranje-Rood Hockeyclub Oranje-Rood (), also known as HC Oranje-Rood or simply Oranje-Rood, is a Dutch professional field hockey club based in Eindhoven, North Brabant. The club was founded on 1 July 2016 as a merger of Oranje Zwart and Eindhovense Mixed Hocke ...

. In April 2019 van der Horst announced he would retire at the end of the season.

International career

He made his debut for the Dutch national team during the 2004 Champions Trophy in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. He was named the 2005 Young Player of the Year and the 2015 Player of the Year by the

International Hockey Federation The International Hockey Federation, commonly known by the acronym FIH, is the international governing body of field hockey and indoor field hockey. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. FIH is responsible for field hockey's major int ...

, which also placed him on the 2007 All-Star team. He was selected as player of the tournament at the 2007 EuroHockey Nations Championship. During his long international career, he played in three

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

, three

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and six EuroHockey Championships. In 2016, the head coach of the national team announced he would no longer be called up, so the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

was his last tournament with the national team.

Coaching career

After van der Horst announced his retirement as a player it was announced that he would become the new head coach of his former club's first men's team Oranje-Rood. After three years as the head coach, he took a step back and switched roles with the assistant coach.

Personal life

He was born and raised in

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

, where he currently still lives. He is married and has two children.

Honours

Club

;Oranje Zwart *

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie (; "Fourth Division"), formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league was divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunda ...

: 2004–05, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 *

Euro Hockey League The Euro Hockey League is an annual field hockey cup competition organized by the EHF for the very top field hockey clubs in Europe. The competition was launched at the start of the 2007-08 field hockey season when it merged and replaced the men ...

: 2014–15

International

;Netherlands *

silver medal:

* EuroHockey Championships:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Champions Trophy The ICC Champions Trophy, formerly known as the ICC Knock Out Trophy, is an international One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) contested by international men's teams. Inaugurat ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

* Hockey World League:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Individual

* FIH WorldHockey Young Player of the Year: 2005 * FIH Player of the Year: 2015 * Best hockey player in the Netherlands: 2005, 2011, 2012

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horst, Robert van der 1984 births Living people Dutch male field hockey players Male field hockey defenders Dutch field hockey coaches Field hockey players from Eindhoven Field hockey players at the 2008 Summer Olympics 2006 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup players 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players for the Netherlands Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Olympic medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Oranje Zwart players HC Rotterdam players HC Oranje-Rood players Men's Hoofdklasse Hockey players 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch sportsmen Men's Euro Hockey League–winning players