About us

Background

December, 2022

William Blaak (1996) started racing pigeons as a young fancier in 2014, racing under the name W. Blaak. The special thing about this situation was that William did not inherit the pigeon sport from home. The pigeon bug was apparently passed on by grandpa Blaak, since he and his father and brother have practiced the pigeon sport fanatically for years, first in Rotterdam and later in Ridderkerk and Oud Beijerland. 

After the death of (o)pa Blaak, Harry also became intensively involved in the pigeon sport. However, they continued to play under the name W. Blaak, as a tribute to (grand)pa Blaak who played under this name in Rotterdam for years. We play a program in which we try to focus more and more on the one day long distance in recent years. The basis of our pigeons mainly consisted of the type of the Rotterdam combination Romein-Klein, these pigeons are extremely suitable for the sprint and middle distance distances. 

In recent years, investments have mainly been made in long distance pigeons, including Henk Marsman (Zwartsluis), Henri and Mark van de Berg ( IJsselmuiden), Theo Pander (Joure), the combination Geerlings van Duin ( Noordwijkerhout), Team van Oss (Velddriel) and finally also 7 direct merchants from Ermerveen.

Breakthrough 2017

Of course it didn't go smoothly at the start, in 2014 and 2015 it was doom and gloom until the young pigeon races. A special moment was the first young pigeon race of 2015, just a few weeks after the sudden death of (o)pa Blaak. From the first flight from Duffel, William flew the 1e in the association, that was a special release. We didn't even know that we only had 1 out of 17 in Gouwe and IJssel and that he flew the 248th prize against 4267 pigeons. This hen, the 022, was given to William by Bert Cornelisse. A few weeks later there was another 1e flown in the association on Quivrain, in addition, some prizes were flown every week with the youngsters. In the meantime, the neighbors had also become enthusiastic and a loft was also set up there. Since William played in a self-made hutch, it was decided to also put a "real" hutch in our garden. In 2016, this was played from, with varying successes. The breakthrough came in 2017.

Frank Klein

At the end of 2016, William came into contact with Frank Klein through school, playing under the name Romein-Klein in Rotterdam. For those who are not familiar with this combination, read the report below.

https://www.pipa.be/nl/articles/comb-romein-klein-rotterdam-nl-presteren-fenomenaal-met-hun-blue-shadow-20077

Frank was a bit surprised that he met a young unknown fancier here and promised to help him. Not a word was lied about that. Since the moment that pigeons from these fanciers are in our lofts, the performances have risen in an almost straight line. But it is not only about good pigeons, but also about good guidance and Frank has also given that for a number of years.

2017 - 2019

In 2017 we became General Champion of PV de Snelvlieger in Capelle aan den IJssel for the first time, an association with 16 playing lofts at the time. In Rayon A of the ensemble Gouwe IJssel we became 4 that yeare General unappointed. In 2018/2019 and 2020, we not only became General Champion of PV de Snelvlieger again, but also General Champion of Urban Krimpen (about 60 lofts), General Champion in District A Gouwe IJssel (unnominated about 90 lofts) and 9 respectively.e , 5e and 10e General throughout Gouwe IJssel.

Eye-catching results were already there in 2018, when a 26e NPO Chateauroux was flown against 8444 pigeons and a 31e in sector 2 against 12511 pigeons. In 2019 we also flew a 1 for the first timee in Gouwe and IJssel, on Quivrain against more than 4800 pigeons. We did this with the Quinty. We also ended that season with a 1e in Gouwe IJssel, flown by Jason, this against 1300 pigeons and a 5e against 8500 in Sector 2. 

2021 - 2022 Harry takes over

Because it already became clear in 2021 that William would put less energy into the sport, not all races were participated in that year, which ultimately resulted in a 2e general championship in District A.

William has now taken a step back and Harry will play alone for the first time in 2022. This will mainly require the necessary adjustments to the training schedule, it will be quite a challenge to maintain the level of recent years. Harry has set the goal of achieving good results, especially in the one day long distance races and the youngsters middle distance races. Championships are less important to him, so that the bow is not tense every week and the pigeons can enjoy more when they come home. In 2022, the one day long distance was already played very well, with the 2e one day long distance race Issoudun stood out in terms of performance. In Rayon A 1,4,6,14,16 etc were flown against 586 pigeons and we started with the 34e,61e and 78e NPO against 9293 in province 5. Topper in the one day long distance was “Patricks Choice” in 2022.

The final race of the Dutch Golden Classic was also won this year and this pigeon eventually became 2nd pigeon champion over 4 middle distance races. This also resulted in a nice pocket money 🙂 Click here for the pedigree of this pigeon.

Future plans

The Koopman pigeons will be introduced into the stock in 2023, we hope to be able to achieve even more appealing results. In any case, we try to keep in mind that the pigeon sport (despite Harry's fanaticism) is Pleasure, Passion and Performance and that in that order.

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