Marlies Janssens is 25 years old and is a middle player with VDK Bank Gent Ladies Volleyball and the Yellow Tigers. She made her debut with the national team in 2017. She started at the age of 12 at Volleyball Club Dilbeek-Itterbeek and attended the Volleyball School in Vilvoorde for a year. In 2017, she signed with Asterix Avo Beveren and in 2018 she won the cup of Belgium with them. Since 2021, she has been playing at VDK Bank Gent.

How long have you been playing volleyball and where did you start?
I started playing volleyball when I was 12 years old. I was tired of playing individual sports like gymnastics, tennis and swimming. I wanted to do something in a team and that's how I ended up at VC Schepdaal. I loved this team sport and I was allowed to join the ladies' team straight away, where I immediately got the chance to play because they needed a middle man. And since I was the biggest of the lot, I became centre. Not much later, after only a few years of volleyball in 1st provincial, Kris Vansnick came my way. I played a match against Govok Gooik and was asked after that match if I didn't want to come to screening on Monday (3 days later) to join the volleyball school. And so it happened.

When was your first match for the national team, do you remember the feeling you had then?
I think in July 2017, at the World Grand Prix against Serbia. I had been along to the preparatory tournaments in France and Poland before and found it all very exciting then! Fortunately, I ended up in a super nice group where I could really enjoy myself. So I could only be happy that I got this opportunity. The first time coming in caused me a lot of stress, it was only afterwards that I well and truly realised that this was my first competition for the national team!

What do you like most about playing with the national team?
It's just such a great group to be on the pitch with. We have actually known each other for a long time, many of the girls also went to volleyball school together. I remember in Brazil at the World Grand Prix (2018) when we made our commitment to the 2022 World Cup. For five years, we were going to give the best of ourselves to each other in order to achieve a great performance at the World Cup in 2022! And what a fantastic World Cup it was!

What is your fondest memory with the national team?
The World Grand Prix in Cuiabá, Brazil in 2018. A packed hall with 10,000 Brazilians, all wearing yellow t-shirts. Or... maybe still the win against the Netherlands this summer at the World Cup? Or the match against Italy? Hard to choose.