HC Schaap, not just a club.

HC Schaap. A group of friends with a big passion for hockey set up something
unique in collaboration with Osaka. A team jersey inspired by Michiel, one of
the sheep, to support him in the match of his life: Michiel vs. Cancer. All proceeds
will go to the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Foundation (a cancer research foundation).

So that Michiel's toughest match will be the warming-up for the next.

Want to know more about HC Schaap? Read the story below and check our instagram: @hcschaap.

HC Schaap, more than a regular hockeyclub. You will not find HC Schaap
in any of the competitions of the Dutch or Belgian Hockey Associations
(KNHB/KBHB), but perhaps HC Schaap is bigger than that.

HC Schaap was founded by 4 friends: Michiel, Tobias, Gijs and Paul. Four
friends who possess the ability to talk (non)sense about almost any topic and
have a huge passion for hockey. Before long, talking turned into “bleating”, the
sound sheep make. This lead to the 4 friends calling eachother sheep and the
name Hockey Club Schaap (Sheep) was born. A logo was designed and secretly a
dream to one day wear a HC Schaap jersey began. This dream became a
reality in 2021, but not everything was as great as it seems... 

One of the 4 sheep, Michiel, moved to Barcelona with his girlfriend. He left to
chase his dream: play hockey at FC Barcelona, to wear the blaugrana with
pride and to get his master’s degree. During the first months he worked his
way up to penalty corner specialist and club top scorer. He was playing at the
highest level in Spain and even the EHL came within reach. Until he no longer couldn’t…

After a short Christmas break back in the Netherlands, running became harder
and harder, whereas before Michiel was one of the fittest players. Back in
Barcelona, the reason turned out to be much more than just a simple infection:
3L of fluid was found in his right lung and no 24-year old wants to hear the
diagnosis: cancer. The doctors in Barcelona couldn’t figure out what type
of cancer it was. Because of this, further investigations were performed at the
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital (AVL)/Dutch Cancer Institute in
Amsterdam. AVL is known as one of the top cancer hospitals in the world. Once
there, it turned out to be a very rare soft tissue tumor, one that has only ever been
found in several hundred cases worldwide.

For the other three sheep, this was a sign to make the dream of the sports shirt a
reality. The plan was to encourage Michiel with this shirt (see image) and to
raise money. This money would be used to support Michiel's bucket list and also
to raise money for cancer research. However, Michiel immediately put a stop
to it; the money should not go to him but entirely to the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek foundation.

The plural of sheep is sheep, because sheep are never alone.