{"id":6380,"date":"2023-12-04T17:38:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T16:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/bibliotheek\/high-level-handball-with-one-eye\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T14:41:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:41:21","slug":"high-level-handball-with-one-eye","status":"publish","type":"library_pt","link":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/library\/personal-stories\/high-level-handball-with-one-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"High-Level Handball with One Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-12-04T17:38:00+01:00\">04 December 2023<\/time><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The consequences were horrific. After he was rushed to the hospital, it turned out that his eye had been shattered. \u201cSurgery was needed immediately. I was transferred from the hospital in Veldhoven to the Eye Hospital in Rotterdam. They told me right away that there was only about a 2 percent chance I\u2019d ever see out of that eye again. But it couldn\u2019t be saved. I then underwent an eye removal surgery.\u201d When I woke up after the surgery, I couldn\u2019t see a thing. Both eyes are connected by muscles. The muscles in my good eye were so cramped that I couldn\u2019t see anything with my left eye either. Fortunately, my vision did return after a few days.\u201d The friend whom Youri had hit with the stick came to visit him in the hospital. \u201cHe felt incredibly guilty,\u201d Youri recalls. \u201cBut I wasn\u2019t angry with him. He didn\u2019t do it on purpose.\u201d  <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Top Handball Player<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His recovery went well, but it was still difficult for Youri. Suddenly, he had a tremendous amount of trouble perceiving depth. He\u2019d spill drinks right next to his glass. Or he\u2019d start writing before his pen had even reached the paper. And he also feared for his greatest passion: handball. After all, how could he ever become a top handball player if he could only see out of one eye? \u201cWhen I was slowly allowed to start playing handball again, I had a really hard time with it,\u201d he recalls clearly. Not being able to see depth made it difficult to judge distances correctly. Youri could barely catch the ball anymore, and part of his field of vision was gone. \u201cIt took a long time to get used to. My mom also made me wear glasses for safety. I was afraid that a finger might get into my good eye while playing handball. At first, I didn\u2019t want to wear those glasses. They just made seeing even harder.\u201d It was then that the young athlete considered quitting handball. \u201cI thought: I\u2019m not going to play sports with such ugly glasses. I\u2019d rather quit. In the end, I started wearing them anyway. My mom was right, of course, and I continued playing handball. I\u2019d still rather not wear those glasses, but then I\u2019d get into an argument with my mom\u2026\u201d Fortunately\u2014first and foremost for himself, but also for handball fans\u2014he followed the advice of his loved ones. \u201cMy parents have always given me the support I needed. My teammates all accepted that I wore glasses during games and practices. I was never laughed at or made fun of because of it. It was accepted, especially because the story behind it was clear.\u201d               <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Blind spot<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The left-handed player is now in his third season with Quintus, which competes in the men\u2019s premier league. He has also been playing for the Dutch national team for a year. \u201cBecause I was still young when the accident happened, my brain was able to adapt to the new situation. If something like that happens at an older age, it\u2019s probably much harder. When playing handball, I especially have to keep in mind that I have a significant blind spot on the right. Of course, the game moves so fast that I sometimes don\u2019t see an attacker on the right. That\u2019s frustrating for me, but also for the team.\u201d Fortunately, though, Youri has plenty of skills to make up for it. He\u2019s very fast and has good passing moves.      <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Jokes<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the day, Youri Schutte is studying to become a junior account manager at Da Vinci College in Dordrecht. But what he loves most is training and spending a lot of time playing handball. Other than that, having an eye prosthesis doesn\u2019t play a major role in his life. People he doesn\u2019t know don\u2019t bring it up with him either. \u201cMost people, once I tell them after a while, say they thought I had something like a lazy eye. You always think people can see it. That makes me feel insecure sometimes. But by now I also know that a lot of people don\u2019t even think about it at all. My friends sometimes joke about it, too\u2014something along the lines of, \u2018I bet you didn\u2019t see that again.\u2019 But I can laugh it off. It doesn\u2019t bother me.\u201d  <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Driver&#8217;s License Exam<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Youri has also passed his driver\u2019s license test in the meantime. \u201cI had to take the driving test three times. But I can\u2019t say for sure if that was because of my prosthesis,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cI did have to demonstrate beforehand that I could look far back over my shoulder\u2014to make sure I could take in the entire traffic situation. I explained this to the examiners before every test, because otherwise they might have wondered, \u2018Why is that guy looking back so much?\u2019 Not looking enough isn\u2019t good. But apparently, looking over your shoulder too much isn\u2019t ideal either.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Special thanks to Peter Lotman, who previously published an interview with Youri Schutte on www.handbalstartpunt.nl and in the Algemeen Dagblad.  <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine this happening to you. You\u2019re at camp in 8th grade, and you lose an eye during a game of mini-golf. That\u2019s what happened to Youri Schutte (19). Youri explains: \u201cI was playing mini-golf with two other boys, and at one point I was standing behind one of my friends. He swung his club backward over his shoulder, right into my right eye. At first, the teacher thought I just had a small cut above my eye. But it hurt so badly that they decided to call an ambulance after all.\u201d     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6381,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_daextauttol_enable_tooltips":""},"library_cat":[117,113],"class_list":["post-6380","library_pt","type-library_pt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","library_cat-children-and-youth","library_cat-personal-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt\/6380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/library_pt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"library_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_cat?post=6380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}