Robbert Prick van Wely

Robbert Prick van Wely started playing hockey under the inspiring guidance of his own father and Alex Andjelic in the Nijmegen youth program. As a youngster he played in the same team as Ben Tijnagel and Henri Stoer although they were older then him. Therefore he had to develop a lot of skills to compensate for his lack of size and strength. “Don’t practice with people your own age but with players of the same quality” (quote: Robbert Prick van Wely )

Robbert Prick van Wely made his debut in the first team of Nijmegen as a 16 year-old rookie in the 1983-1984 season together with Frank Janssen. In that period Nijmegen had a lot of Canadian and Dutch-Canadian players and Prick van wely always said he picked up a lot of toughness from those guys. ” They were really tough and had a completely different attitude towards hockey, hockey is tough and they gave me the tools to handle that”

After playing three years in Nijmegen Prick van Wely moved to Rotterdam together with the likes of Tijnagel, Wensink, Bruijsten and Van Heumen. He stayed there for numerous years and won the championship three times during that period. In those days Rotterdam had a team that could compete on the European level thanks to imports like Sean Simpson, Dave Morrison and Andy Otto.

Prick van Wely retired but decided to come back and play for Nijmegen because he liked the game too much. He won the championship with Nijmegen and moved to Amsterdam, closer to his job and residence, were he captained the team.

Robbert Prick van Wely can be typed as a stay-at-home defender who always did his job, never seeking attention. He always gave a 100%. Furthermore he was highly respected by both his teammates and the public and was a great rolemodel for younger players due to his skills and natural leadership-like qualities.