Wat als Obama ook in Aalter zou geweest zijn…

Your Majesty Patrick, dear members of Pandas Vanheïer, I'm honored to be here today. Thank you for welcoming me to Aalter.

To the staff of this sports centrum, thank you for your devotion, watching over those who come sporting here and preserving these wooden sport floor for all of us.

 As His Majesty Patrick mentioned, we just spent some memorable moments watching this quarter final.

And it is impossible not to be awed by the profound sacrifice the players of Vanheïer made so that we might stand here today.

In this place, we remember the courage of “Brave Little Lokeren”.

The players, Tom V.M., Tom W, Stefaan, Joris, Wim M, Koen V and Koen C, don’t live in the same village or has the same background, these players who manned the positions on the volleyball court were united by something larger, a willingness to fight for victory.

When looking at the match we talked about Tom V.M., a young Pandas player, who didn’t have sport shoes to play with, but insisted to play with his best Sunday shoes.

Our enemy, JOVO from Oostakker (First VOBOG), was too strong today, although we fought until the bitter end. With a lot of “dropballekes” they managed to break our defence.

But remember, long after the loss of this quarter final, the Vanheïer bond will be endured.

The citizens of Lokeren have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their allies from Sinaai, Klein-Sinaai,… And today, Pandas Vanheïer is one of the closest teams in the world - a strong and capable team. And thanks to the extraordinary alliance between those players, Vanheïer will know a level of victory that those who played with Vanheïer before could scarcely have imagined.

And so this match, this hallowed game, reminds us that Vanheïer must never, ever question His Majesty Patrick when it comes to the starting hour of a game. If His Majesty Patrick says that Vanheïer has to play against Move at 20:00 hours, it is 20:00 hours and not 21:00 hours.

May God bless you.

May God bless the memory of all who played and will play for the Pandas.

Koen C.