Joyce Sombroek



Joyce Sombroek (born 10 September 1990) is a Dutch goalkeeper of the field hockey team of the Netherlands. Her international debut was on June 29, 2010 and since then she played 117 caps (October 1, 2016) and competed at every international tournament. With the Dutch national team Sombroek won every title you can win as a professional hockey player. Her biggest achievements are the gold medal at the 2012, silver medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and winning the 2014 Women's Hockey World Cup in The Hague. In both Olympic semi finals Sombroek played an important role by stopping multiple shoot-outs and leading her team into the finals. Sombroek also won several individual titles. The Féderation Internationale de Hockey (FIH) chose her for the international All Star team in 2010 and 2011 and Sombroek was nominated for Best Young Player of the World in 2012. In 2014 and 2015 she was chosen as Best Goalkeeper of the World.

In the highest National competition, called the Hoofdklasse, she became vice-champion of the Netherlands in 2010, 2011 and 2012 with the first ladies team of hockeyclub Laren. In this competition Sombroek became 'Talent of the year' in 2010 and 'Best player of the year' in 2012. At the EuroHockey Club Champions Cup she and her teammates won a bronze medal in 2011, a gold medal in 2012 and a silver medal in 2013. Sombroek is a 5th year medicine student at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. She also gives presentations and clinics and is ambassador for Stichting Spieren voor Spieren and Stichting Achterstevoren.