Paika van der Maas ’24 represents the Dutch National Team.
When she’s not scoring on Choate’s basketball courts, Girls’ Varsity Basketball forward Paika van der Maas ’24 travels the world representing the Netherlands at international competitions.
This past summer, van der Maas represented the U18 Dutch National Team, a team of athletes selected to compete at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) U18 Women’s European Championship 2023 Division B in Sofia, Bulgaria. Prior to the competition, van der Maas and her teammates spent a month training together in Amsterdam.
Van der Maas’s love for basketball started at age 10 while growing up in Australia. Her local community center launched a program called Pink Ball to introduce girls to basketball as an alternative to the hugely popular Australian netball, which is similar to basketball.
At first, it was challenging for van der Maas to integrate herself into the team, because when she joined, the other members of the U18 Dutch National Team had already been training together for three years. Many lived together in apartments as part of the Orange Lions Academy, the national training institute for top Dutch basketball players.
However, traveling as a team helped van der Maas become closer to her teammates. After games, the team would get ice cream together, and van der Maas connected with her roommate through those trips.
As one of the strongest English speakers on the Dutch team, van der Maas also helped the team communicate with other countries’ players, who all stayed at the same hotel.
“It was very cool to be able to talk to them and meet all these different players from abroad,” she said.
Members of the different national teams became fast friends by trading gear. “On the last day, everyone swapped gear with each other,” van der Maas said. “That was my favorite part. I have a bunch of stuff from countries like Denmark and Norway.”
Van der Maas is proud to represent the Netherlands internationally and plans to continue playing in college. “Wearing the ‘Nederlands’ on the front of my jersey was something I was very proud of,” she said. “How far I have come in the recruiting process and the opportunities I’ve created for myself have been good, so I can pick where I want to go for my future,” she said.
Looking forward to the winter basketball season, van der Maas cited her off-season prep competing on Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) summer teams and participating in the Peak Conditioning fall afternoon activity as readying her for her final basketball season at Choate.
