Study visit: Dutch FA and Vitesse Arnhem
- Peter Glynn
- 30 December 2019
Summary report of the UEFA study visit to Holland focusing on: Dutch DNA, the link between grassroots and professional clubs and the work of Vitesse Arnhem.
During 2013/14, 8500 coaches and staff from UEFA’s member countries attended UEFA Study Group seminars covering women’s football, grassroots, coach development and elite player development.The study groups offered a unique opportunity to share best practice and solutions to similar issues.
Back in October 2013, a group of FA staff visited Arnhem in Holland to learn more about the Dutch approach to grassroots football, the importance of community spirit and how amateur and professional clubs link effectively for the good of the Dutch game.
Here, The Boot Room, summarises the trip headlines, taking a look at what English football can learn from the Dutch way.
DNA - the point of departureCreativity, adventure, innovation and activity: four characteristics that Piet Hubers, KNVB technical manager, believes summarise the spirit, attitude and approach adopted by Dutch people throughout history and that now form the DNA of Dutch football.
Hubers, who has worked for the KNVB since 1996, believes that understanding the football history and traditions of a country is an important foundation for all future football development activity. ‘Pride in history as our motivation’ is an approach the Dutch put at the core of all of their work forming, in their own words, their ‘point of departure’.
There was caution for any approach which tries to copy or adopt a model, philosophy or programme which has proved successful in another country or club, stressing that each situation is unique. Any good idea or success observed elsewhere needs moulding, shaping and fitting into a different space and context.
Developing an identity through understanding history and culture is a principle he believes all professional, amateur and grassroots clubs in Holland can adopt. No two clubs are the same, no two clubs share the same situation, environment, history or culture and this is something that should be defined celebrated and communicated to give each club a strong identity among communities and young people.
Have you ever asked yourself what is your club’s DNA or philosophy, or how you define yourself as a club? Communicating your values, beliefs and approach can help manage the expectation of players and parents and also help attract individuals to your club who fit with your approach. Having a strong identity can also help you through tougher times. With difficult decisions to make you can return to your core beliefs in order to point you on the right course.
Football at the heart of the community
It was proudly announced, only part-jokingly, that every town in Holland has a pub, a church and an amateur football club at the heart of its community. With amateur setups described as “more like societies than football clubs” the importance of the latter to Dutch life was underlined as the trip unfolded.
Beer Krikke, chairman of Sport Maakt Lenig, a large amateur football club in Arnhem, explained that the sheer number and ease of accessibility to football clubs means that for Dutch parents and players “there is a club 10 minutes away from your house. One parent can bring 5 children, all of them on their bicycles”.
Imagining a bicycle-riding Dutch parent en-route to football practice with a 5 a-side team of pedalling youngsters in tow is a wonderfully stereotyped image but one which is symbolic of the community spirit, volunteer approach and importance of an active lifestyle which provides the foundation for the country’s approach to grassroots football.
Krikke focused on non-technical matters, continually stressing the importance of Sport Maakt Lening role in the local community, a place where people come together to meet and co-operate for the good of the local area.
With 750 members split into five senior teams and 40 junior teams with multiple teams at every age-group, the club is the focus for local activity. Their U14 age-category has six teams each with 15 players in each squad. Five and six year-olds not yet ready to play in a team practice in ‘Champions League’ and ‘Mini’ groups with a focus on fun, enjoyment and learning the fundamentals of the game.
Each team has two coaches and a team leader, all of whom are volunteers. With school finishing at midday on a Wednesday children and parents gather at the football club for an afternoon of football and activity. Interestingly, many of the coaches who take the sessions take time off work to deliver the sessions or manage their work programmes to free up time on a Wednesday afternoon.
Local people giving up their time free of charge and offering their skills to help the club prosper was a key message. The new clubhouse and canteen built solely by volunteers proving a perfect example. Krikke also spoke of the ‘family feel’ at the club with many ‘whole’ families fully involved with the running of the club; mum and dad may be coaching or helping with administration whilst the children play – some at the football club and some at the adjacent hockey club with whom the football club share a facility and are closely linked.
How do you view the purpose of your club and your own individual role within it? Is your club solely defined by on-field matters or do you celebrate the value your club holds for community and society? For a young player’s holistic development it is important that you see the role of the football club as more than just the game. The involvement, interaction, physical activity and opportunities for friendship, communication and personal growth which young people get from grassroots football is just as important and shouldn’t be forgotten.
Links and networks – making all involved ‘stronger’
Relationships, connections, and networks - both informal and formal - are the foundation on which Dutch football is built. Many professional football clubs in Holland enjoy close relationships with a cluster of local amateur clubs in their region. Vitesse Arnhem, for example, are linked with 11 large amateur clubs who each in turn have a network of links with smaller grassroots clubs.
Sport Maakt Lenig, one of the large amateur clubs and the one visited as part of this study, have an official link with Vitesse as well as a further association with 15 small grassroots clubs.
There is no disguising that the link gives the professional club first-pick of any talent but the transparent and reciprocal nature of the relationship ensures that the link remains advantageous for the smaller clubs. A closer relationship can help manage a player’s pathway if they are to drop out of the academy programme back into grassroots football.
With Sport Maakt Lenig permitted to advertise the professional link, joining the amateur club is an attractive proposition for players and parents. Additionally, Vitesse will hold coaching courses for the club’s coaches at the club’s facilities. Similarly, coaches and volunteers from Sport Maakt Lenig are invited to the club to observe and learn from the club’s professional academy coaches.
Many coaches fear losing their most talented players to professional clubs. Instead it should be seen as a compliment for the quality of grounding provided by the grassroots club and also an exciting development opportunity for the young player. With the recruitment of talented young players extremely competitive, it is better to encourage players to trial with a club with whom your club has a transparent relationship.
From dependent to independent - a focus on individual improvementLike many of the best professional academies in Europe, Vitesse Arnhem of the Dutch Eredivisie [Premier League], have a detailed and thorough youth development programme taking care of young players’ every need in multi-million pound facilities.
Close links with educational establishments give the club access to the players during the school timetable with the older players in the system receiving 8 sessions per week including practice sessions, video analysis and individual improvement sessions.
Again this is an approach replicated at many clubs. Interestingly, however, the players who attended day time sessions were challenged to attend individual Masterclasses before the main body of the practice. It is here that the Vitesse academy’s mantra to take the players from “Dependent to independent” was brought to life.
During the Masterclasses players are challenged to work on individual aspects of their game that require improvement or refinement. The players are challenged to create their own practices in order to help themselves improve and are tasked with seeking out others who can help them improve.
The example given was a central midfield player who had identified a need to improve his forward passing. Through questioning from the coach, the player put together a practice involving receiving a pass from the central defender, whilst opposed, and playing into the feet of a front-man. The player would be responsible for setting up the practice and getting the co-operation of teammates to make the practice happen.
It's an approach which has helped Vitesse develop a variety of players over the years for their first-team squad.
Do you encourage your players to undergo individual, self-initiated practice away from the club? Could you make an area available before or after training where the players can gather to improve their own individual skills?
Some players may need more help with this than others. Through effective questioning, peer learning and practical examples players can gain enough ideas to begin their own individual practice journey. There may even be groups of players who attend the same school or who live near each other who could gather together away from training to go through their own masterclass around different themes.
Article image courtesy of Michael Steele/Getty Images.
This article was first published in The Boot Room magazine in December 2013.
