This morning I went to a training session with Pepijn’s C1 (U13) team. It was a cold-rainy morning, but it did not stop the boys from training. Every Thursday the C1 team practices 2 time a day. They practice in the morning before school (at their school’s field) and in the evenings after school at Herdgang (PSV training center). The practice began at 8:30 AM and lasted for 75 minutes. The boy’s then showered and went to school. 

In the afternoon we headed over to Herdgang. I watched practices for the rest of the day. I watched Young PSV (reserve team), B1 (U17), C1 (U15), D1 (U13), E1 (U11), E2 (U10), and the F1 (U9). I was blown away by the level of play, especially the youngest players. I could not believe the moves the u9 players were doing. The level of technique was unbelievable. Pepijn is doing a fantastic job with the players and is evolving the way players are developed in Europe. He is taking individual technique and the domination of the individual to an extreme. I truly believe in this vision of youth development and am trying to learn as much as I can from him. It takes a long term vision to understand this way of development. It was truly amazing watching the young boys train today.

He told be story about the U11 team. When they were U9, Ajax beat them 7-0. But earlier this year the same PSV team beat Ajax (U11) 3-0. I watched this U11 team train next to the U10 and U9 boys. It was interesting to see the level of improvement from team to team (year to year). When you place these boys next to each other and are able to see the older teams train/play, one can see the line that runs from the u9 boys all the way to the 1st team.

Well I have to go, we’re going to watch Casino Royale.