Maarten Bouwknecht (born 14 December 1994) is a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who plays for

ZZ Leiden ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Vijf Meihal, which has 2,000 seats. ...

. Born in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, he started his career with

Donar Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and ...

in 2013. Standing at 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in), he usually plays as

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

Career

After playing in the youth teams of the club, Bouwknecht signed with the first team of

GasTerra Flames GasTerra is a Dutch partially state-owned company that is active in the worldwide trade and supply of natural gas. It is owned by Royal Dutch Shell (25%), ExxonMobil (25%) and the Dutch government (50%). Its history dates back to 2005, when the com ...

(the sponsored name of Donar) in the summer of 2013. He won the

Dutch Basketball League The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...

(DBL) championship and the

NBB Cup The Basketball Cup, formerly the NBB Cup ( nl, NBB-Beker), is an annual cup competition for Dutch basketball teams organised by the Basketball Nederland. Every team in the Netherlands can participate by signing up for the preliminary rounds. Profes ...

in 2014. On 23 June 2015, he signed a three-year contract with

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

. In the 2015–16 season, Bouwknecht was named the

DBL MVP Under 23 The Dutch Basketball League (DBL) Most Valuable Player Under 23 is an award that is yearly given to the best player under age 23 in the DBL, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau ...

. On 20 August 2019, Bouwknecht signed with the

Worcester Wolves The Worcester Wolves are a basketball club in Worcester, England, Worcester, England. The team plays in the National Basketball League (England), NBL Division 2, the third tier of British basketball. The club was formed in 2000, and from 2006 u ...

of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

(BBL). With the Wolves, Bouwknecht won the

BBL Cup The British Basketball League Cup, often shortened to the BBL Cup, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripheral c ...

title. On 4 July 2021, Bouwknecht returned to the Netherlands when he signed a one-year contract with

. He won the first-ever

BNXT League The BNXT League, for sponsorship reasons the betFirst BNXT League, is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL a ...

championship with the team. On 14 June 2022, he extended his contract with two more seasons, until 2024.

National team career

Bouwknecht made his debut for the

Netherlands men's national basketball team The Netherlands men's national basketball team ( nl, Het Nederlands nationaal basketbalteam) represents the Netherlands in international basketball matches. The national team is governed by Basketball Nederland. The Dutch have reached the Eur ...

on 7 July 2017, under coach

Toon van Helfteren Anton J. J. "Toon" van Helfteren (born 20 February 1951) is a Dutch former basketball player and current coach of Feyenoord Basketball. Van Helfteren played in the Dutch Basketball League from 1971 till 1990. He was the coach of ZZ Leiden from ...

in a game against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

References

External links

DBL Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouwknecht, Maarten 1994 births Living people Dutch men's basketball players Dutch Basketball League players Donar (basketball club) players Heroes Den Bosch players Worcester Wolves players Point guards Shooting guards Sportspeople from Groningen (city) ZZ Leiden players