In the picture above you see some people in a pool. They are at swimming practise, training for the next big meet. They practise swimming for a sport, not just for fun. Swimming is a pretty popular sport in the Netherlands. It is a tough sport, because it requires a lot of practise to be an even average swimmer. The real professional swimmers probably train more than 20 hours a week in a pool, and then they have to spent at least half as much time exercising, running, doing push-ups, on land. Swimming takes a lot of your body. The picture is very detailed, and it shows people swimming freestyle, one of the four official swimming strokes. The other ones are breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly. There also is the IM, where you swim all the different strokes one by one. Because the picture is so detailed, you can really see the water splashing up, creating a very cool effect.

In this picture you see a man fishing. Fishing is a very popular sport in the Netherlands. There are a lot of different competitions and it’s the third most popular sport here. Besides doing it for contests, a lot of people do it as a relaxing activity, because it makes them feel really calm. Usually people throw out their fishing gear in the water whilst standing on land, but it’s also possible to fish from a boat, only it is not as common here. The man in the picture is fishing in a small lake that is surrounded by a forest. His red shirt and the green trees around him create a nice contrast in color. It makes the man really stand out, so the photograph becomes a lot more interesting to look at. If you look at his clothing, you can see that the man in the picture isn’t fishing for some contest. He is probably just doing it for fun. Most people who fish in the Netherlands do it as a relaxing activity.

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In this picture you can see two people playing badminton. One of them is all the way back in the picture, which creates a funny image. The person in the back looks very small and the badminton racket looks huge. 

 A lot of people from the Netherlands play badminton during their holidays when they’re camping. Few Dutch practice badminton as their sport. Most big cities do have a badminton club, but a lot of smaller villages don’t have a badminton club. Badminton is gaining popularity. The number of badmintonmemberships are increasing. The Dutch aren’t really successful at international competitions like the world championships or the Olympics. 

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In this picture you can see a football. The picture is taken close to the ground. This way you can see the whole football. This makes football the most important aspect of the picture. 

Football is a very popular sport in the Netherlands. Almost every village does have a football club. Big cities have several football clubs. Many children play football. Some practice football as a sport and other play it at school during their break. The Dutch like to watch matches from professional Dutch football clubs like Ajax (Amsterdam), Feyenoord (Rotterdam) and PSV (Eindhoven) or the national team. 

Football is really important for the Dutch culture. Many Dutch people like to play or watch football together. Football is a sport that brings the Dutch people together. 

Field hockey is a very common sport in the Netherlands (6th on the list of most popular sports). The sport is practiced by young as well as old. A lot of children start playing hockey at a really young age. The Dutch teams are also one of the best field hockey teams in the world. Especially the women’s team is doing very well. They have won three gold medals at the Olympic Games and eight gold medals at the European Championship. They also won the World Cup eight times. This makes field hockey not only a popular sport to play, but it’s also very interesting to watch. Field hockey is also one of the few sports in the Netherlands where the women’s team is as popular as, or maybe even more popular as the men’s team.

On this photo you can see the start of the match of the Dutch men’s team against that of New Zealand. It is an important game because every team must win enough matches to qualify for the World Cup. You see a long line of men holding each other. This provides an intense feeling of solidarity. Everybody has a feeling that they’re part of the team. The players and the supporters are all singing the national anthem before the match starts. This picture is taken from a pretty high distance, giving you a nice overview of the field and the sport stands around it. You can see the many supporters in the stands who want to encourage their country. They are all calling for their favourite players and cheering the team on, which does not only create an exciting atmosphere, but also gives the players some extra confidence, knowing that everyone there believes in them.