The Inspirations of 2013
The year 2013 is almost over. For me it was an inspirational, fun, informative but also a turbulent year. Lots of things worked out really well, and lots of things went wrong.
When I look to the bad things first, I remember a garage which burnt down due to some barbeque coals. This was something that I won’t ever forget. I also remember a theft from my dad’s car. They broke in to the car, and stole the bag that stood inside. Inside the bag was my stuff like an iPad, testing scores and my camera. This is also something I will not easily forget.
But enough with the bad things that happened in my personal life. There were lots of things that went really well. I developed myself enormously and that is something that I want to carry on with during 2014. In the beginning of 2013 is was doing an internship at ‘De Beweegwinkel’. This is some kind of a shop, where old people can come for advice about their health, sport life and wellness. It was a fun time, but it didn’t bring me enough challenge. This was what I told to my work placement coach, who told me that I needed to show more initiative to get more challenging internships. This so I could get more satisfaction from my work.
During this starting months of the year I also got my propedeuse at school, which is a degree that counts hard. I was very proud of myself to get this. Also I finished my internship at De Beweegwinkel with a very high degree (9 on the scale of 10). And I got myself to the third year of school, what was also a succession. But there was far more to come..
I got myself an internship for the second half year of the third school year. A really high internship at InnoSportLab at ‘De Tongelreep’. This is where the Dutch national swimming crew trains. I was really excited that I could come on the ‘internship interview’ with an inspirational man (one of many) Roald van der Vliet. I was even more excited when he told me that I could come and prove myself during the internship period pointed out by school. Another succession that made me really proud and motivated to go on like that.
Few days later I found myself a minor study (self chosen study within a study of six months) ‘Sport Performance Enhancement’. An English study about talent recognition and talent development. This study required something more than other studies, I had to get another internship for this period. We (my friend Jeff van Meurs and I) searched for some challenging sport clubs, and found ourselves a work placement at NAC Breda. This is a professional football club, something I loved since I was little. Now I could go and work at a football club. My year couldn’t go any better, but still, the end was not reached..
I met a guy on the internet, while I was just looking around for information about my product. I found a great opportunity. A congress, named the BeNeVoetbal Congress. This is a congress about talent development and talent recognition, designed for the first time this year by Guido Seerden. I spoke to him and I found out that he was already at the point that I wish to become. He was working at Al-Alhi football club in Saudi Arabia. This congress contained a lot of good speakers, which I wanted to hear of course because the subject connected to my study. It got even better because when I got there, I had to take care of the speakers during the time the congress wasn’t busy. It was an amazing day which still gets me motivated. I spoke to some inspiring people like Scott Miller (at the moment Strength and Conditioning Coach at the National football team of Australia) Rhys Carr, at that moment head of the youth academy at Cardiff City, Aad de Mos, ex-trainer and now analyst of football matches, Roger Bongaerts, head of the youth academy of VVV-Venlo/Helmond Sport and also founder of Total Soccer Method, and lots more.
This inspirational day gave me more motivation to go on, and also other insights which I would love to try out.
A few weeks later, Guido forwarded me an e-mail. This mail contained information about a coaching week in Madrid, at Real Madrid. This is one of the best clubs of the world. It was an amazing opportunity, which I would love to take. I didn’t hesitate and I signed myself up. With some help of Guido, and the coach I was working for at NAC Breda, Geert Brusselers, I got myself a ticket for the plane. November 4th, I would leave to Madrid for the Coaching Week at Real Madrid youth academy.. Wow.. Could my year get any more inspirational?
I developed myself from January until now, and I enhanced my skills a lot. I met more people in Madrid like former youth academy coach Kieran Smith. I talked with him for over 3 hours, about football, football, football and also football. He showed me things in football that I never had thought of before, different styles of play he was studying. Also he told me he had trained top youth teams in England (Manchester City for example). I also met Chris Summersell. A modest guy who loved the game maybe even more than I do. We spent a lot of time together not only during the courses, but also after the courses. Together with some other guys like Sven, Jordi and Pete we talked a lot about football. We also visited some matches like Atletico Madrid – Austria Wien and Real Madrid – Real Sociedad. The week was really rich of information and I couldn’t wait to get back on the training field again myself. This was one of the biggest highlights of my year, without doubt.
This year was awesome, with ups and downs like every year of course. But I learned a lot. I developed my skills and I enhanced my motivation. This also give me some goals for the next year, the year 2014:
- I want to get my coaching degree
- I want to finish my minor study, finish my internship at InnoSportlab with a high grade and find an interesting subject for my paper.
- I want to do some kind of an exchange program together with Chris, I will go to London and he will come to Eindhoven. This so we can visit some youth academies.
- I want to make a trip to Barcelona again, so I can visit the Camp Nou again and some other inspiring places.
These are some of my main goals for 2014. A year where I want to improve myself even more, where I want to achieve even more than I did last year. I am still ambitious and have a bigger hunger to success. I’m also back on the field again as a coach of u11, this is something I want to continue.
Also, some private things must be mentioned. This was the first whole year I spent with my girlfriend Nikki. She is a huge support and always got my back. Also my parents are a huge support. They help me with everything (mainly the practical parts) but also they cannot be left out. I also want to give a special thanks to Guido Seerden, who reached me things that helped me a lot to reach my goal.
For now the only thing I want to say is: A healthy, sportive and good 2014 wished by me, I hope you all reach the goals you set, and all get satisfaction by the things you do. Also I hope everyone finds the joy in life or finds something to live for. That’s all for me, keep reading my blog, and I’ll see you all next year! Cheers!