With the upcoming European Volleyball Championship, Pieter Coolman is entering the very final straight line of an impressive elite sports career. The experienced middle blocker of Knack Roeselare recently stopped playing for his club and will soon bow out with the national team, but he still nurtures one big ambition: to guide the Red Dragons to a historic medal.

In the Roeselare sports hall, “Ja dat is Cool, Cool, Coolman” was for years the fixed musical tribute after a successful block or a sharp attack. Soon the little tune will fall silent for good. The farewell is inevitably drawing closer. Coolman’s focus turns for the last time to the European Championship, after a final friendly match on Friday evening against Czechia.

Within the national squad, belief in a successful tournament is high. Captain Sam Deroo — back in the Belgian team — recently expressed undisguised, unquenchable ambitions. The Red Dragons dare to dream out loud of a podium place, strengthened by a fine campaign in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL). A medal is the first target. The Belgian team indeed possesses a lot of quality. For now there are still some small physical niggles. Pierre Perin unfortunately has to sit out due to knee problems. A few other standouts during the recent VNL — Sam Fafchamps and Simon Plaskie — are currently recovering from minor injuries and will probably join the team soon. In short, there is a squad with remarkable potential. With class act Ferre Reggers as the absolute spearhead.

An impressive trophy cabinet

For the Coolman family, Pieter’s retirement marks the end of an era. His sister Nina previously put an end to her playing career. She is currently active as head coach at Velvoc Veltem-Beisem. Their parents, for years probably the most loyal supporters in the country on the sidelines, will now have to fill their weekends differently. But the volleyball bug will undoubtedly never let go of them.

The list of honours Pieter Coolman leaves behind is simply imposing. After his early years at Rembert Torhout, Lendelede and Menen, the middle blocker grew at Knack Roeselare into one of the most decisive players in the Belgian league. Listing all the successes would be the same as writing a very thick book about the CEV Cup where he reached the podium with Knack, about the silver medal in the Challenge Cup, about the Champions League matches, about the countless league titles and Belgian Cups, about the Supercups and more recently the BeNe Cup and the BeNe Conference. Add to that the campaigns with the Red Dragons, the World Championships, the European Championships, the World League, the Golden League, the European League which Belgium won in 2013, the qualification matches for the Olympic Games.

“The CEV Cup final against top club Modena and the World Championship in the Philippines remain the absolute highlights of my career,” Coolman looks back. “On the other hand, those are at the same time also disappointments, because you lose that last match. You want to win and you just miss out on the big prize. Of course, after such a long career there are also memories that are hard to digest, like the lost Olympic qualification match against Bulgaria in 2023. That kind of defeat remains painful, but it does not make the whole any less memorable.”

New generation ready

A possible Olympic dream towards Los Angeles, Coolman consciously lets pass. “If the Red Dragons pull off an upset and qualify for the Games, that will be without me. By that time that will no longer be possible sportingly. That is unrealistic. It has been beautiful, the younger generation is ready to take over.”

His future after elite sport is already mapped out and taking concrete shape. Pieter once indicated that he — with his friends Hendrik Tuerlinckx and Matthijs Verhanneman as biggest examples — was also open to a job as trainer-coach at a top club. “Never say never,” the 37-year-old volleyballer picks up on that. “But first our new fitness centre gets priority. In the meantime I will also get involved with the Knack Academy. In Roeselare they offer a supplementary development programme for ambitious youth volleyball players who want to raise their level in a targeted way within a professional elite sport environment.”

Finally, the experienced player looks with a critical but loving eye at the evolution of his sport. “Volleyball constantly tries to reinvent itself to become more attractive and accessible to the general public. That is good, although I am not convinced by all the new regulations. Certain relaxations in volleyball come at the expense of technical refinement, which for me is precisely the essence of the game. But we remember the positive things: it remains without a doubt the most beautiful sport there is.”

Text and photo: Walter Vereeck