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

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

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 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

and won a silver medal in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. He played club hockey for

Oranje Zwart Mixed Hockeyclub Oranje Zwart was a Dutch professional field hockey club located in Eindhoven, North Brabant, which was founded on 1 September 1933. With around 1,700 members – as of 3 May 2006 – it is one of the biggest clubs in the ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

and Oranje-Rood.

Club career

He played in the youth ranks of

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 Hockey Club Rotterdam, commonly known as Rotterdam is a Dutch field hockey club based in Rotterdam, South Holland. It was founded on 16 September 1925. The first men's team competes on the highest level of the Dutch field hockey league, which is c ...

. 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. 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 ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. He was named the 2005 Young Player of the Year and the 2015 Player of the Year by the International Hockey Federation, 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, 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 concept i ...

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

Honours

Club

Oranje Zwart * Hoofdklasse: 2004–05, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 * Euro Hockey League: 2014–15

International

Netherlands * EuroHockey Championships: 2007, 2015 * Champions Trophy: 2006 *

Hockey World League The Men's FIH Hockey World League was an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation. The league also served as a qualifier for the 2014 and 2018 Men's Hockey World Cups and the 2016 Olympic Games. Th ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

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 Sportspeople from Eindhoven Field hockey players from North Brabant 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 people