Central’s Kobylinski takes soccer journey to the Netherlands
Central College
PELLA—Central College women’s soccer coach Mike Kobylinski visited Holland and Germany with the Christian Brothers College High School (Mo.) Dutch Touch soccer group March 16-27. Kobylinski learned new training to use in his first season at Central and ways to impact the soccer community from the youth level to the college level. Below is Kobylinski’s description of the trip.
What a life-changing experience I had overseas in Holland and Germany. From March 16-27 I traveled across the “pond” to learn more about soccer from a foreign point of view. I traveled with a soccer group called CBC Dutch Touch. Terry Michler, boys’ soccer coach at CBC High School, organized the trip. Milcher is the winningest soccer coach in the nation with an 826-206-98 (.731) career record. He was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America high school coach of the year and was recognized as the National Federation of State High School Coaches Association boys’ soccer coach of the year. Michler has guided CBC to seven state championships and six runner-up finishes. So, needless to say, I was in good company!
Some of the professional clubs we visited were the NEC (Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie), Ajax, De Graafschap and Feyenoord. All of these clubs play in the Dutch Eredivisie, the highest level of professional soccer in the Netherlands. I was able to learn from the best and interact with professional players, coaches, administrators, etc.
We also visited the top amateur clubs in Holland and a handful of youth soccer clubs and schools. All generated great discussion and ideas. I even lucked out and was able to watch the U17 Union of European Football Association championship qualifier matches between Holland, Austria, Portugal and Croatia in Rotterdam, which is home to Feyenoord.
At the NEC in Nijmegen, we learned from youth technical director Remco TenHoopin. He showed us how they trained and why they do the things they do. Two of his sayings that resonated with me were “we train with attitude and power” and “for every negative I give 10 positives.” I thought that was interesting. Later in the week we were able to watch another one of his training sessions. It was great to learn from him and sit down to chat with him. Some of the activities he did will be implemented in the upcoming year with the Central women’s soccer team.
We also spent a day at Ajax, De Graafschap and Feyenoord. At Ajax we saw their U19’s train and play in a match coached by Dennis Bergkamp, one of the most famous Dutch footballers besides Johan Cruyff. We were even in the same lunch hall as Dennis and the Ajax soccer staff at their youth training facility! Later we got a tour of the stadium. We took a day trip to another club, Schalke 04, and also did a stadium tour. They play in Bundesliga, the top pro league in Germany. Feyenoord is known as the ‘people’s club’ and now I see why. Their players were so accommodating taking pictures and signing autographs. It was unbelievable.
We saw the first team train at NEC, Feyenoord and Schalke, and the pace of their session and touches on the ball were something to see. Everything was basically in two touch and quick! They all did a variation of the same activities which required work on touch, speed of play with transition activities in a 4x4x4 or 5x5x5 setup and decision making. The pro matches we saw were of Achilles, the top amateur team in Groesbeek, and NEC.
One thing that stuck in my mind about my time in Holland is “It’s not rocket science!” Implement activities that generate success and work on speed of play that allows the players to think quicker (not the coach). Also, do these activities with extreme attention to detail and repeat those activities daily. Some of those teams did the same activity for a whole hour! At NEC they would always ask the players to solve the problems and when they couldn’t the coaches would step in. The youth players did all of their warm-ups and held each other responsible. It was truly refreshing.
This trip could not be summed up in one or 50 pages of writing. My only suggestion for soccer enthusiasts is to go overseas and see how soccer is played there in that passion and culture. In Groesbeek alone, a town of 18,000, there are six different soccer clubs and facilities. Some of the youth facilities there would blow away the highest level college facilities in the states and even the facilities of pro teams in Major League Soccer. The people we met were so friendly and we all had a universal language—soccer.
Check out more photos and information from the trip on Facebook at CBC Dutch Touch Soccer.
