Five years after temporarily putting his career on hold, Thomas Marijnissen is back at NAC Breda. The 23-year-old winger was struggling with panic attacks, which forced him to stop playing professional football. Bee On 1 Marijnissen expresses his concerns about the macho behavior in the football world, which, according to him, still predominates far too much.
Marijnissen handed in his contract with NAC in October 2017, with the explanation ‘that he gradually felt the pleasure in the things he did disappear’. At the end of July, the people of Breda announced that they would welcome their lost son again, this time a lot richer in wisdom. “I made my debut at the age of seventeen, then we obtained our PhD and on the way to the party I got pressure on my chest”, Marijnissen looks back. “I felt like I was dying, that I was choking. I said to my girlfriend, ‘If this continues, you should call an ambulance’. Finally I called the GP. That’s how it started and it only got worse. “
However, the native of Breda found it difficult to talk about his problems. Five years later, it’s something he’s eager to stress the importance of. “I think it’s important to talk about it. I think it starts there. I think there are more people who have the same thing as me, to a greater or lesser extent. But there is little talk about it, especially in sport , I sense.” “Especially in football?” asks presenter Carrie Ten Napel. Marijnissen hesitates for a moment. “Yes, I think so,” he replies.
NAC player Thomas Marijnissen stopped playing football because of #panic attacks, but is back. “I think it’s important to discuss things. I think there are more people going through the same thing, but very little talk about it.” #On 1 pic.twitter.com/d7BXm7Bx6R
— Op1 (@op1npo) September 21, 2022
Marijnissen describes the course of events in a professional football team as he knows it. We are with a whole selection, then you have the roosters and the boys who are a bit calmer. But there are also boys with problems.” As an eighteen-year-old boy, Marijnissen himself was unable to express himself. “I honestly thought: it doesn’t belong to me, that’s not right, I’ll just put it away.”
Marijnissen, who has worn out a few amateur clubs after his temporary stop, is the next in the camp (former) professional football players who openly admits his mental problems. Gregory van der Wiel and Ricardo Kishna, among others, have already spoken out about their mental state. Marijnissen has played four games since his return to NAC, in which he was a substitute in all. Marijnissen did not yet score or give assists.
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