It’s been a couple of days since my last e-mail because I have been so busy. I have not had time to get on the internet because my days have been about 19-20 hours long. I apologize for my grammar, it’s 2:00 AM and I’ve been up since 6:00 AM this morning.  We have been fitting 3 days of activities into each day.

I met up with the 11 other Americans on Tuesday morning. We toured the city on Tuesday and went to Frans Hoek Sports at night to have a meeting with Frans Hoek. Frans went over the course and explained what we would be doing in the next weeks.  

Yesterday we spent the entire day at Feyenoord. We started the day by taking a tour of the stadium. After this we went and had a meeting with Stanley Brard whom is the Head of the Youth Department. He went over the vision of the club, structure, and what they are trying to achieve with their youth players. The objective is to develop 2-3 players each year for the 1st team and to improve each player to his highest level. It’s interesting to know that 90% of the A1 (U19) players will receive contracts and play professionally. Not necessarily with Feyenoord but with other teams. I also found out that 35% of the players playing in the Eredivsie (the top dutch division) have played in the youth academies of PSV, Ajax, or Feyenoord.    

After his talk we went out to watch a talent day. There talent days are their way of scouting players for their u9 team. It is a very well thought out way of filtering players down. They look at 100’s of players and filter them down to the best 11-12 players. After the talent day, we watched their u9, u10, u11, and u13 teams train.    Today we traveled to Eindhoven with the group. We were pleasantly surprised when we got to Herdgang. The 1st team was playing a game against the reserves. We were able to see the top players like Patrick Kluivert and Michael Reiziger versues new and upcoming players like American Lee Nguyen. It ended 1-1, but the game could have been 3-3.    

We then met with Rini de Groot whom is responsible for the scouting of player u14 and lower. We talked about their scouting system which is very sophisticated. They do it differently than Feyenoord, but they end at the same goal- the top 11-12 players for the u9 team. What is a talent? Is a talent born? These are questions we discussed. After this we went out and watched a bunch of youth trainings.

At night we went to visit an amateur club. It is important for us not only to see the top, but also see the bottom of Dutch soccer. It is more realistic to compare ourselves to these clubs than the top clubs like PSV or Ajax. It’s interesting to know that we run into the same problems as them. However, the one big advantage they have is most clubs have facilities and a club house.    

Looking over my experience in Europe for the last two years (including this week) it is interesting to reflect on our own situation; because this is the reason I come over here. I want to learn and bring back the knowledge to our players. The most interesting thing to see is top clubs preaching development over winning. I hear a lot of people talk about this back in the United States, yet I don’t always believe what I hear. When you visit these academies they don’t just preach development, but they back it up on the field. A couple of rules that have been changed to help foster development.

• For the U11 boys and below they take goal kicks from the top of the 18 yard box. This is to encourage build up play, instead of players/goalkeepers just kicking the ball long. I think in the u11 and below- out players have such a hard time kicking it out of the box and when they do, it is so risky- that they give up many goals. By starting at the 18 yard box- when you make a mistake it is not as risky.
• (U11 below)Corner Kicks are also brought in 10 yards. So the players can reach the box.
• I saw many bad throw ins, but the referee did not call them back. Why? Because they are more worried about the play on the field than bringing back the throw in. Also, the players were able to throw the ball further. I don’t know if I 100% agree with this, but I do believe the play is more important than stopping play to bring back a throw in.

These are just a couple of things that the federation has changed. But the clubs also back up what they preach. They don’t care if they win a u11 championship. This is not the goal. I visited Ajax two years ago and met with Danny Blind whom at the time was the youth director. He said something interesting that I thought I would share:

“If player has a problem (in his game) put him into a situation that is difficult. It is bad for the team, but good for the individual. The individual development in the youth is more important than the team results” – Danny Blind

Danny then gave us an example:
The story is about Wesley Sneijder when he was with the u15. He was always winning player of the tournament, but Ajax recognized he had a problem getting back on defense. He played the number 10 and was scoring many goals. So against one team the coaches made him guard the other team’s number 10. That player scored 3 goals and it was the only game that team lost all year. You can tell a player so much, but sometimes you need to show him. In the end it was a short term loss, but in the bigger picture it was a success because Wesley Sneijder is now playing with the 1st team of Ajax ( which is their aim).
 
I hope we as a state (northern California) can become more educated on the development of youth soccer players. It’s not about winning the u9 championship, but helping our players reach their highest level.  We are so caught up in the winning that it is hurting our players development. It’s been close to 20 years since the last player from Northern California started on the US National team. We need to work together to help the players reach their potential. I believe we need to be more humble and remember it is not about us and our egos. It is all about the players.