MAHER'S MESSAGE

I have been to Holland about twenty-five summers. I have watched professional soccer teams almost every summer. I may have missed one or two summers when I was just training in Holland. The last three summers I watched the youth teams of professional teams play soccer.

Recently I have noticed numerous articles about Dutch soccer in various journals, magazines and papers. I mentioned this to my mentor in Holland. The writers spend some time in Holland; collect notes on drills or exercises. Then they extol the virtues of Dutch soccer and write articles and give clinics on Dutch soccer. Most American coaches go to see Ajax as they are considered to be the best team in Holland. My Dutch soccer friend was critical of someone becoming an expert in such a short amount of time. One week, ten days or at the most two weeks makes a given writer an expert on Dutch soccer? After all those years in Holland I consider myself a seasoned observer. The only experts of Dutch soccer are Dutch coaches. Well, of course that is true!

I went to Holland this summer and never saw a professional team practice. Not Ajax, not Feyenoord and not PSV. None. I must explain in some detail.

The change happened over my last three visits to Holland. This summer made it most clear. While I was in Holland, we had a flood in the basement. My poor wife had to deal with the whole mess. We had eight inches of water on the floor. I lost papers on soccer, Montessori, test design and evaluation, statistics, Asian cooking recipes and books on all of the above. We suffered a small disaster.

I was forced to throw out forty years worth of printed material. I looked carefully at what needed to be cast aside. My old notes on Dutch training of professional soccer teams were of the least importance. Why? The demands on the professional player could not be transferred to the basic reading public in this country. The basic reading public. I will explain.

One touch passes were not possible in this country under the same conditions as in Holland. Long passes on the ground were not possible; the distance was too great. Cross passes to feet were not possible due to the lack of skill. A ratio of six-on-four was too hard to execute with success by most American players. Nothing really worked. It looked good, but never worked. Too hard. Too difficult. Beyond the reach of the average American coach or team. Or the average Dutch coach of youth soccer for that matter. Just too hard. It was not functional or efficient. And too fast.

My last three years in Holland were the most productive for me as a coach and writer when I never watched the first team practice. (I did watch them play.) The work of the youth teams could be used in this country by our youth teams. After my grandson trained this summer with two Dutch teams, I asked him what he learned. Two things. Pass to feet. Keep the ball on the ground. Those two sentences cost me about $4,000. You can have them free of charge. They are priceless for me. But those two weeks also gave me seventeen pages of fresh and worthwhile notes. Some are most pungent.

Most precious to me are my notes of PSV youth training and Feyenoord youth training. I treasure them. They explain the philosophy and purpose of the soccer program and the execution of the program in simple terms. Now I have a greater understanding not of Dutch youth soccer, but of youth soccer anywhere. I feel that I can read the game better. Match Analysis. I have a better grasp of selecting and training players. I know what needs to be done and more of how to do it. I can better organize a season of training players. Where to begin and where it should end to be considered successful for youth players.

Watching professional soccer players gave me no clue as to where to begin or what to expect. The form was completed and needed only a little polishing. My players needed more than a little polishing.

In the earlier years in Holland I was faced with trying to replicate what the pros did, and we could not do the same thing here in the States. My Dutch friend enjoyed many a laugh over my attempts. My all time favorite was playing four-on-three in a forty-yard grid with varsity high school boys. My friend assured me that the pros could never do that, much less high schoolboys. But I had learned the exercise in Holland by watching a professional team!

Let pro coaches watch pro teams train. The real world for the rest of us should be spent watching youth teams train. I might add that the youth team coaches are far easier to talk to than the coaches of the professional teams. I have found youth team coaches more than willing to sit down and share with me. This includes club printed material. Of course if you cannot read Dutch, this presents a bit of a problem. But sharing was always offered.

Let me be clear. I learned watching the pro teams. There was much for me to learn. But I could not always filter out that material that proved to be useless or beyond my needs. Or it was beyond the ability of my players. Those were good times, and I enjoyed them. It is in looking at my notes that I find the youth training notes to be much more pungent. Things worked better and my friend stopped laughing at me.

I have had fun over the last twenty-five years, but the best years for soccer were the last three in Holland. Let anyone go to Holland and watch what he wants. My point is that the hidden treasure of Dutch soccer is the youth program. Take it from me; I have been there.

If you go, buy a Wooerdenboek, Nederlands-Engels. It is a paperback and not expensive. What is a wooerdenboek? A pocket sized dictionary. Have fun.