After an early flight into Amsterdam our first training session was very good, the facilities and the pitches were a really high standard with 4G pitches and smart changing rooms. For a non-league club VV Gilze certainly know how to keep their players happy.
After the first two days in Gilze already we’ve been able to experience a fair amount from the Dutch culture and the way in which they like to play their football. I think some of the boys struggle to grasp it.
The second day consisted of much more training, first of all an early session back at the VV Gilze training ground and the second at Willem II training ground where we were lucky enough to meet the Academy Manager Remko.
He gave us an insight into the way his programme works and the opportunities the youth players are given with roughly 91% of them achieving pro contracts.
Afterwards, we had a session with Willem II U12 coach Camille which was also a good experience as we were able to learn how the Dutch play. He was very hard on playing the ball quick and keeping it on the ground.
I’ll let you know what else we’ve been up to in my next blog. For anyone wishing to follow me I’m also on Twitter @michaelgonzalo, look forward to your tweets.
