Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America is a weekly podcast for soccer parents, coaches, and players who want to understand how youth soccer development really works in the United States.
Hosted by two dads, filmmaker Liron Unreich and investor Matt Tartaglia, the show covers everything from grassroots soccer to elite pathways like MLS NEXT and ECNL. Combining data, real experience, and expert insights from academy directors, college coaches, and former pros, each episode explains what families truly need to know.
Weekly episodes focus on the core aspects of youth soccer: player development, coaching culture, college recruiting, tryouts, travel costs, and the challenges of parenting in youth sports in today’s competitive environment.
For families navigating youth soccer’s complex system, Chasing the Game offers practical advice, credible voices, and relatable stories from two dads working to make sense of American player development, one episode at a time.
You think your kid wants to play in Europe?
Are you sure he's even ready for what Europe actually asks for?
Picture this.
U 12
four or five coaches on the field.
every session.
Self- regulation, decision making, independence.
This isn't some fantasy academy.
This is the Netherlands and a small town in the north.
Today, we're pulling apart what that involvesvironments demand and
why American families often misread it.
This is Chasing the Game, Youth Soccer in America,
International version.
And we're not doing this as a thought experiment.
We're doing it with someone who is currently living in.
Today's guest is Dipper Djong.
Our audience spans far and wide,
and he's got no relation to Frankie.
He's born and raised in Friesland, in a village of
about 850 people in the north of the Netherlands.
He started coaching around 2008 after injuries,
and life commitments ended his playing days in his dreams.
And from early on, his focus was around individuals player development.
His coaching and scouting journey has led him to SC.
Cambor, working in the academy as an assistant coach at U7
and U15 with a heavy focus on individual developmentment
in what they call shadow programs.
When COVID hit, he stepped back because he was burned out
moved into scouting, and now focuses on identifying
players with realistic, first team potential, while
also supporting Camber's U12 staff and mental
coaching and development support.
And one thing he's clear about is the Netherlands
isn't just academies.
It's It's a whole ecosystem, not just individual pieces.
Thousands of amateur clubs, competitive football everywhere,
the game is integrated into normal life.
So when people say
Europe and un United States, they usually imagine one
perfect team.
But what Dittmer is describing is a whole structure that cheaps
kids long before anyone talks about a pro pathway.
So we get into what the youngest ages
actually look like, what coaches do, what they don't do.
And we try to go straight to the questions most American families ask all the time
What would it realistically take for a kid from here to
succeed in an environmentally?
like that?
Alright, well I can't wait to hear about
the crazy Dutch, uh, parents, so, okay,
so let's, let's, let's get started.
So, um, Ditmer, my friend, welcome.
Uh, you were born, raised in Blije, so
this is hard for Matt and I to imagine.
It's a village of 850 people, give
or take, and it has its own football
club, which is already makes no sense.
So how does growing up in a small
place like that shape you as a, a
football person, which is who you are?
I, I guess that's, that's a good
question, but I think it's like
difficult to explain because football
is everywhere, so it's very normal.
So for me, it's very normal to, or it was
very normal as a kid to go play football
with friends on, like, uh, at school time
or, uh, the, the local football club.
Um, so football is everywhere,
so you can't, can't really
get away from it, basically.
Yeah.
So your town, 850 people.
But what about, were there
larger towns or cities?
Close by and is that as you start in
grassroots and then evolve as a football
player, as a footballer, what does that
look like from your own development as a
kid and the opportunities that you had?
So you have like bigger towns
close and they obviously got bigger
football clubs and more opportunities.
So it does happen that, for example,
kids from my village who outgrow their
uh, level went to like bigger football
clubs to grow and progress there.
So I think that's, that's how
Dutch football is structured.
We have like amateur football and
professional, and Blije was just
the very lowest you can play on
in the amateur football league.
But it, it does have like a first team.
It has like a youth academy.
Um, it works together with a
lot of other football clubs.
So there's like merged, um,
merged, uh, football academies.
So the level is a little bit higher and
you can always make sure there's always
enough players for a team, but it's,
for example, Cambuur the, the club I
also, uh, do work for, that's like the
second tier in Holland and below that
already starts, uh, amateur football.
And that's usually divided up in,
in regions or, um, yeah, that's
basically Eredivisie, uh, Keuken
Kampioen, which is the second division.
And then you have like three
semi-professional leagues, I guess
like a third and fourth division.
And below that is our more
local or regional football.
Right.
your professional team is second
place in the second division.
So you are breath away
from Eredivisie, right?
mean, almost like the
prime time is right there.
Wow.
And we are below a few games because some
games get canceled because of the weather,
but, uh, yeah, it looks really good.
Looks really good.
Wow.
Matt, what is this
promotion relegation thing?
I, I don't think I
understand how it works.
Yeah, we, we, we believe in
closed monopolistic systems.
Yeah.
you cannot, you cannot relegate
from the second division here, so
it's like closed system as well.
And they've always been looking
at how to open it up, but there's
a lot of like amateur clubs that
don't want to pro, uh, do promotion.
So I think it will stay
closed for basically always.
But we do field, um, we do field
like almost 40 professional clubs,
so that's, that's really good for
such a small country, I guess.
how many MLS teams are
there in math, give or take?
30. Wow.
And you had, and there's
40 professional clubs in
Well, but he's saying all divisions.
That's
No, but it's Netherlands alone.
It's still, it's tiny,
yeah, but then if you have like
the third and fourth division,
you also have clubs who pay
reasonably high amounts to players.
So it's like semi-professional.
And if you take all these clubs in
account, I think it go to like, uh, but
I mean, these clubs also participate in
the National Cup and sometimes even reach
like the quarter finals or half finals.
So it's, it's, and that, that's
also comes to Dutch culture, right?
There's a lot of football around.
So there's a lot of competition
even from, uh, between amateur
and professional clubs.
Amazing.
Um, Ditmer, can you talk a bit
about what do you see different
today with kids growing up?
It's been what's 20 years or so
probably for you, since you were
like starting out as a youth player.
I'm guessing, uh, what's changed
from a, from a development
perspective or from a methodology
around how players need to develop
Yeah, so I think from, from
like a development point of view
and like policies, I think the
whole system got more flexible.
And what I mean with that is, um,
um, like we, we, we like tweaked in
Holland, they tweaked around with rules
like, uh, uh, a lot of playing time.
They changed from, uh, bigger
pitches to smaller pitches.
Uh, so now for example, like
the under nines, they play like,
I think it's like five V five.
Um, and they used to just play
eight v eight on like half pitch.
So a lot of space.
So these things changed.
I think we also, uh, changed in
age groups, like for example.
I think in one of the podcasts I was
thinking, uh, that you guys did, I was
thinking about the situation you explained
with your son, how he was like under
13, but, uh, smaller than his age group.
So what, what I think we, we do really
well as well these days is that, uh, for
example, if you have a smaller, under
13 player, he can still play for under
12 or if you have a smaller under 15
player, he can still play for under 15.
So these things got much more flexible.
And I think more clubs also look
at like, um, if, if you have, for
example, have it the other way around,
if some kid of under 13 is like big
body, uh, early in growth spurt, they
usually like put in a team higher.
So I think, um, in general in in
development, uh, it used to focus more
on, on on the team and now it's more
and more focused on individual level.
I think that's, that's the biggest change
we've made in like, uh, the last 20 years.
It's fascinating.
So for most of us in the US we look at
the Dutch and think, and you are the
beacon of football and development,
especially for, given the size of the
country and the overall population.
those of us from the outside are like,
these guys have had such incredible
success in building and developing
players and either holding onto them
or selling them to, to other, uh, o
other, other clubs throughout Europe.
What drove the change do you think?
Yeah.
I think it's, it's a,
it's a good question.
Also a difficult question.
I think at some point, uh,
it happens to every football.
Organization or country is,
uh, kind of a stagnation.
So at some point we've been doing the
same for a long time and it's kind of
like showed that at some point, uh, it
wasn't enough and things needed to change.
And if you look at the big clubs like
Ajax PSV, Feyenoord, AZ they are also
sometimes like pushing the federation
to change rules for improved of,
uh, individual or team development.
So I think these are really the
driving forces behind change.
And I think also what is a very good
thing is like a club like Combu can
sit at the table, have conversations
about uh, how, what is the next step,
give feedback, um, what do we need.
Uh, there's also, uh, every now and
then they do like audits and then
clubs get together and visit a club.
Like for example, happened a few weeks
ago that like a board of people, um.
Kind of like examine the way we do
things in bu give feedback on that.
Um, I think that's that's what
really drove the changes in the last
five, 10 years to further improve.
Because obviously if you don't
improve, you just stand still.
And if you stand still, there's like,
you just lose, uh, competitiveness.
So I think we used to be maybe for
example, world class in development,
but uh, we're definitely not anymore.
There's also other countries who do
really well, like Germany, uh, England.
So I think that's, that's the
main reason why we, what we
try to improve our program.
We had an interview here with, a
former MLS player, and now he's a
coach at the MLS team, Ben Olsen.
And we talked about the gap between
American and European soccer.
And he talked about all the progress
that American soccer has made.
And then he said, but don't forget,
European soccer is still progressing.
So thi this is, I guess
that's what that is.
Uh, I mean, you, yourself, you stopped
playing because of injuries and
burnout but what made you decide that
development is what you want to focus on?
That's really my passion to
contribute to other people.
Passion in football is something I
really enjoy, and I think I kind of
like got into it and thought like,
oh, this is really cool to do so
that I can help kids or coaches or
anybody else try to develop, uh, as
a, for example, as a football player.
Do you get formal training,
formal training as a coach,
or is there a system where.
Uh, I mean, I know how EUFA and FIFA
works, but internally within the Dutch
system, how does that work for you to, to
also like, um, uh, licenses.
I think it's pretty, I think
like nationwide, it's the
same, pretty much everywhere.
So I think you have like four,
uh, levels of, uh, coaching, like
the lowest and then you grow up.
And the highest level is,
uh, professional football.
So that's also where, um, the
Dutch Federation invests a lot
of money into develop coaches.
And there's also like requirements to
have like a license to, it's not only
that you have to, uh, finish the program,
but afterwards you have to get like,
license points to keep your license.
So you have to keep developing,
uh, investing yourself and then,
uh, you can get license points.
So for example, it's like attending a
meeting about, uh, development or, um,
watching a certain amount of games or
coaching a certain amount of games.
And then you get points and
it's how you keep your license.
Matt, you hear the, the magic
words Dutch Federation, right.
That there's an idea that
there's a, a larger group that,
that is kind of working for the
improvement of, of the whole sport.
That's, that's not
something we hear a lot.
I know we have US soccer,
Well, I, yeah, I mean, listen, I, I
think we certainly have that with US
Soccer Federation, but I would also
argue that we're going through a pretty
significant transition in this country
where MLS has taken the largest role,
I would say, in youth development.
Across the board.
I maybe not the largest.
There's, there's a ton of
other organizations, I would
say, at the highest levels.
Um, and there isn't, I think we're, I
think we're as a, we as a country are
trying to figure out how does the US
Soccer Federation actually, what's the
role that they need to play in it, given
ML S'S role and given other leagues that
we have and the roles that they play,
both on the boys and the girls side.
Yeah, I mean the, the existence of
Cambuur, for example, Is is that
funded mostly by taxpayer money?
Is it individual funds?
Is it, uh, how does the
club actually exist?
think, uh, out of the budget of
Combuur most is like sponsorship.
I think that's how we get the most money.
So in Holland we have a lot of like
smaller companies sponsoring like
the football club, some bigger ones.
Um, it's quite collective and
they have like TV money also
very important source of income.
And then obviously you have like season
tickets, normal tickets, merchandise.
I think that's, that's the
biggest pillars of income.
And then usually.
It is required by the federation
to have like a certain amount of
money go into your, uh, academy.
And in Combu it's about 1 million
euros, I think they recently released.
And that's about 10% of the budget.
So I think 10, eight to
10% of the total budget.
So it's quite heavily invested
into the youth academy
And that's required.
Yeah.
It, so there's a certain requirement in
percentage that every club should, should
have, and it's also required by license
to do something about youth academies.
So some clubs have like a shared youth
academy and they work together, but most
clubs have their own and invest into it.
And, um, uh, yeah, that, that's,
that's basically how the system works.
Yeah.
And then when you think of your club
in the second division, how much of an
emphasis is on, is there on developing
players that can be, that are featuring
for the first team in the second division,
vis-a-vis, you want to sell them to a
first division team, whether in Holland,
whether within Holland or outside of it.
Yeah, so the, the main goal is really to,
to get players to go to the first team.
And obviously if, um, that's gonna
be very interesting, if we do get
promoted to the Eredivisie , and let's
say we stay there for 5-10 years, then
obviously the whole standard of the
youth academy has to go up because then
we have to develop for Eredivisie and
not just, uh, the second division.
So, um, we're already like speaking about
it, like, okay, how is it gonna look like?
And, um, but, but we basically
have two main goals is obviously
have players developed to the
first team, but also for us.
It's also very interesting if
players, uh, who can maybe.
So, so not reach the first team that
they go and play for other teams, because
that's financially interesting for us
because we have this system where if
you develop a player between 12 and 21
and you and, and they ever get sold and
you get a piece of the transfer fee.
So in that essence, for us, it's very
interesting if a player moves onto
a different club, does really well
there and makes a transfer because
it's financially interesting for us.
Uh, can you talk a bit about, so
we've seen from other countries, I
don't know, I'm sure there's, there's
college kids here, or I'm sure
there's kids from Netherlands who
have come here to play at university.
Yeah.
is that a viable path for Dutch kids
who, let's say, tap out at 18 and
they realize that they don't have a
professional pathway anymore and then
they're looking to university in the us?
So there's quite a few kids actually that
I know that went to, uh, the United States
to study and played football, but I, I
think, to be honest, I'm not a hundred
percent sure if they did it just for
football, but obviously he's like a very
nice second chance to get into football
But to Matt's question, it's
actually really interesting.
So let's say, let's take hypothetically
a, a kid in your, uh, U 17, which you have
marked for Cambuur first team, but also
that kid gets a, a scouted offer from a
full ride to go to the United States to a
great college and have a life experience.
Do you see them as equal, as part, as
a family decision, or it's obvious that
the Cambuur first team is, is, is a
much superior option for somebody like
I, I think I, I do think that
is the superior option, I think.
But, uh, it could be very interesting,
especially if people really wanna go to,
for example, a university or, or have
like a, wanna, wanna go for a degree.
I think it could be a very interesting
possibility, but I think it's a
little bit circumstantial also,
depending on family situation.
But let's say it's like a, a player who
we think could reach the first team, then,
uh, these kids by now also feel that they
have the possibility to go and play there
and they know they will get a chance
because that's currently what we're doing.
We're giving a lot of players
chance to reach the first team.
So hypothetically, I think it's possible,
but, uh, not likely to be honest.
talk to us about what if,
if you were to put a drone.
Above the country of Netherlands
at the moment, and you see 8 and
9-year-old footballers in training
sessions throughout the country,
this is a, grassroots at this point.
What does training look like?
What are, what are they focused on?
How many days a week are they training?
All, all the stuff.
I, I guess if you, immediately to like
the amounts of training, I guess it's
like two times per week, maybe, if it's
like very competitive, maybe three.
So.
That's also my, my, that's a
very personal point of view.
I do think we do select kids way too
young and also in, in Cambuur we tend
to do that sometimes if like, uh,
talent is being chased by other clubs,
we tend to like still, uh, invite the,
the, the kid to the football school.
So how the system works in Holland is
basically, most academies started under
11 in this region under 11 or under 12.
And, um, so they would be invited to
the football school for extra training.
But to be honest, if you have
like, some of these kids can
sometimes train four times per week.
So, for example, two times with their
own club, one time with us, and then one
time with like a competing football club.
And then maybe, uh, there's
also some pay to, uh, play, uh,
initiatives starting here as well,
like private football schools.
Um, so.
That, that's, that's so if you're
a more talented player, then
it definitely looks like that.
Yeah.
Is there a lot of movement, uh, uh,
between for the kids, between teams?
'cause here there's enormous
amount of movement, or is there.
Because you are a, a professional academy,
you focus, like you said, maybe too
early, but if you focus on a U 12, U
13 team kid, you give it all to try to
make sure you get that decision right.
Uh, 'cause because here
there's just a right mat.
I think there's a lot of
Well, I think, well, one, I mean
we're probably thinking about the
tri-state, the, the New York City
bubble, uh, which, which there's
hundreds of clubs and less academies,
but, but still quite a few academies.
Uh, and I think that's probably
applies to all metropolitan areas.
Maybe in less metropolitan areas,
a little bit less movement.
But yeah, I think generally
speaking, there's quite a bit.
how is it in Holland for you?
Yeah, so basically you have
like two levels, right?
So amateur and professional, uh,
between amateur clubs, you can only
switch like one time per season.
So the season runs from, um, from
uh, September until like June.
And then you can switch football
clubs, um, between professional clubs
until you're not signed permanently.
You can jump over to
whatever club you want.
Uh, once you join the academy,
um, it get, it gets interesting.
I think that's like, uh,
what we do really well.
Kids are protected or clubs are protected.
So once a kid joins our academy, he cannot
just like say, oh, I don't like it here.
I'll switch to another football club.
So if IX for example, signs a player,
he cannot just, just join base Fay fine.
Or, or anybody else.
Um, it's protected.
And if the club
at the young ages.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Even the younger ages, as
soon as they enter the academy
structure, they cannot switch.
But in the younger ages, I
think it's until under 11 they
can switch whenever they want.
When you say they can't switch,
what do you, what do you mean?
They literally can't switch?
Are they, I mean, yes,
they're playing for free.
They've signed some sort of contract
even as a 13-year-old or 14-year-old.
Right.
What if it's not working out?
Yeah.
So
uh, what if they need to move?
you drop out, um, you basically have to
wait until, uh, either the club gives
you permission to switch football clubs
or they like keep you on your contract.
So what did happen in the, in the
past here in Holland is that, for
example, club A wants a player
from Club B and then would, um.
Uh, approach this player.
Uh, let him play for one season in
an amateur club, but train and play
friendly games with them, and then
afterwards sign them, uh, which is
now under like, uh, you get under
scrutiny and it's bad for reputation.
So there's also like some gentlemen
agreements not to try touch their players.
So it's a little bit sometimes a rat
race to sign and get the first player
as fast as possible, which, uh, I
really don't enjoy, to be honest.
It's, uh, I, I think, um, and I
think I heard you say this in the
podcast as well, that sometimes people
travel like very far because they
think it's a better football club.
Uh, well, I think you should definitely
in Holland with like good academies,
you should stay as close as possible
to reduce, like, traveling time.
And I think you should really
focus on, uh, uh, like the
philosophy of the club and, um.
If you think it suits you, then you
should definitely not travel too far
because it, for example, happens that
IX has players of like under eight
or under nine who travel like one and
a half hours every training session,
which I think is, uh, yeah, it's a
little bit ludicrous to be honest.
I mean now, now it's getting interesting
because the, the, this idea, so we
really don't have it in that sense
because you, you've already mentioned
in the younger ages, the clubs in
the United States don't really have
financial incentive in the kid.
In their future.
They only have financial in
incentive in their present.
Uh, so this is where what you're saying
is, I don't know if I'm gonna say it
correctly, but it sounds like there's a,
a conflict sometimes in, in your system
between ownership and development because.
You gamble on a kid at a, at a young age.
So that means that kid took a spot,
that kid cost money to the club.
Now you have a dollar sign over that kid,
and now it's your job to develop that kid.
So there's a D. What is your definition
of a development and when do you say,
you know what, it didn't work out for us?
Or do you have to double down,
triple down, say No, no, no.
We gotta make sure that works.
Yeah, I Think like, um, and that's
why I don't like to start too early.
Um, so for example, uh, last
season we did have an under 11 and
these kids all went to under 12.
And, um, I think the big disadvantage
of of that is that we didn't let
anybody go and we didn't sign anybody
new because we said like, oh, we
already invested in these players.
And we kind of like got stuck into
this idea of, oh, we already had them
for one year, so we cannot let 'em go,
or we cannot, uh, select new players.
Well for the, while it could
have been more healthy for
everybody to, to do that process.
So I think that's, that's where.
Where like an academy also
has a challenge with, right?
So choosing the right moments to
say to players, okay, we're gonna
let you go, or to sign new players.
I think that's where really lies.
Um, a big challenge also for us to make
like the right choices because like what
you said is you invest time and money into
this player and um, at some point you just
gotta have to say, okay, sorry, we have
to like, let you go or Yeah, might sound
like written off that player and yeah.
So that, that's, that's really where we
also struggle sometimes because it could
also mean that you for whatever reason
sign off a player too soon, I guess.
Um, and that you may waste talent.
So, I mean, you, you have,
you have basically two brains.
Uh, you have, you're a coach
of younger kids, but you're
a scout on the older side.
Mm-hmm.
So let's start with the
younger kids a little bit.
What is it that you're looking at?
U 8 to U 11.
Let's say what you would considered
a talent worthy of Cambuur,
So our, our vision very much with the
younger ages is when I started to do
scouting, the head scout really said
to me, Ditmer, just focus on one thing
and one thing only is motor skills.
So we very much believe that motor
skills is the basic to, to learn
football, and that's where we focus on.
So I can give you a few examples of like
players who, um, got into our academy,
uh, quite late and then developed
exponentially as, uh, as football players
because of their good motor skills.
So in under 12 we have this one player
who, uh, came to Holland, uh, from Ukraine
and he hadn't played football there
and he only started playing football.
Uh.
As, uh, under, I think under nine
or, yeah, I think under nine.
And he just exponentially
grew as a football player.
In his short notice, he joined our
academy, and I think he's now one of the
better performing players of under 12.
And that's all due to, uh, motor skills.
So he did scout him on based on motor
skills, and he just exponentially, uh,
developed as a, as a football player.
What do you define as
motor skills at that age?
Yeah,
I, I, I was afraid to ask that question,
No.
Well, that's why I, I have no
shame and no ego, so, of course.
Well,
yeah.
and I know I don't have it so.
Yeah, same, same for me, by
the way, but um, I guess it's
like the way you move, right?
Usually it's like a little
bit the smaller players.
So for example, if you would see our
under 12 play against any other clubs,
you also see that we have smaller
kids compared to a lot of other clubs.
It's like just the way you've
movement, uh, feet work.
But, well, it's hard to define
it, however, I would imagine
you can see it in five seconds,
Exactly.
The, just the way they move, how
quick they are, how swift, uh, the
feet work, like, uh, the coordination
between like feet and eyes.
Um, I think that's, that's just a
general athletic skill, I guess.
Are you born with that,
do you think Ditmer.
Uh, I, I guess so.
I guess so.
Yes.
But I do also know that you can like
very much, um, um, uh, improve it.
Like, uh, we are also very much
into, uh, multiple sports, so.
Mm.
not forced, but ask players to do,
uh, for example, judo or karate or
basketball or, uh, any other sports.
We prefer individual sports, so there's
also like some kids who do gymnastics
for, uh, extra skill movements and to
improve their, uh, uh, resilience as
well and to improve the motor skills.
So, so now the kids are moving
into the U 12, U 13 over.
So now, okay, we got motor skills check.
What, uh, what are we looking at
now at the, that middle age, which
is the, let's say U 12 and over,
which is really when your academy,
official academy begins, right?
we kind of like start to look a little
bit for like, uh, not really positional
wise, but more like, uh, in what line a
play could play, for example, defense or,
uh, midfield or attacking, um, positions.
Um, we haven't really defined that yet.
It's not in stone at that age.
Um, I guess it's also a little bit like
things like initiative and um, the like
basic tactical skills come into play.
Like if you have a lot of overview,
if you have insight into the game.
But, um, it's still, I think at
that age we still kind of like
look for, uh, motor skills and if
a player has the ability to learn.
So we very much start to focus on, um.
Also learning a of players.
So if player comes on trial, we also
try to test the player to see if he's
willing to learn, if he's able to learn.
That's also what we look
very much for at that age.
Ditmer.
I'm not gonna let you off
the hook for this question.
So for, for U twelves
3,
three, let's say it's training's
three days a week, 90 minutes, more
than 90 minutes for each session.
And then talk to us a little bit
about like, what is the, what
do the session plans look like?
What are you guys most focus on?
A little bit dependent on the schedule
because usually we, we also do some
friendly games on, uh, Wednesday.
Um.
Training sessions are about
almost two hours long.
But, uh, there's a little bit of
like what we call pre-training.
So before we do the group session, kids
train on their own to develop skills.
So for example, if some player wants to
improve their left foot or right foot,
they get like, try and, uh, to train it.
Or if they want to learn
like, uh, finishing or first
touch, we also have like
Wait, I, I, wait, sorry, you
now, now you got me all confused.
wondering, he's wondering how
many coaches are on the pitch.
right now.
You're telling me that the kid A wants
to do it so the kid knows what it is they
need to improve, and two, you have the
facilities to support an individual kid.
Um, so it's usually like a
little bit what we call self.
I, I guess it's like a
little bit self-learning.
So we think we very much believe
in, self-regulation, That's where we
very much heavily, uh, try to invest
in, in kids like teaching that.
So if a kid, uh, comes into our
academy, it's not really like, oh,
you have to work on your left foot.
It's more like, okay, what do you
think is very good to learn on?
Or what, what do you wanna improve on?
And that, for us is very important.
Um, so if a kid comes
training, he usually made.
Where he wants to improve on.
It could be like his left foot, it could
be his right foot, it could be his first
touch, it could be finishing, it could
be dribbling, it could be any of those
skills that he has to improve on is very
much focused on the individual part.
He can do that, for example, alone
or with other players and for
example, he doesn't know where to
improve on or he has like questions.
He could come to us as coaches and then
uh, we can help him, um, find a good
solution for his well, football problem.
Matt, should we stop the interview now?
Because now I'm like officially depressed.
no, no.
So, so what I was gonna ask, so you're
saying that, so training is two hours,
but is, is this, does this mean the
first 30 minutes, or first 20 minutes
of the two hours, they're, they're
working on individual, like what
they're, they've got time to focus
on something they wanna improve upon,
and then you break into team training.
So it's not 20 minutes ahead of the,
uh, on top of the two hours basically.
I, I'm just blown away by
this self regulation thing.
This where I'm gonna say
it in a most polite way.
I, I. our kids.
I don't wanna say in general
American kids 'cause I have no
idea, but I can talk about our,
our kids are not self-regulated.
I, I, this is not a concept that,
uh, I'm, I'm familiar with as
much as definitely not as far as
football training is concerned.
Our, our kids are always between
private trainers and, and coaches and,
but I think we, we run into
something, and this is somewhat
of a unique thing to New York.
I don't think this is countrywide, but
like, you know, you've got, trying to
find time on a pitch, uh, beyond where
your 90 minutes is or your two hours is
allocated, is very, very challenging here.
And in some cases, teams aren't
even training until eight o'clock
at night and you finish at 10
and it's like your balance.
Kids are balancing all these
things and you're driving.
So again, I don't think this is, this is
not a na, a nationwide thing in the us.
But it's certainly something we deal
with here and finding that extra time
before training or after training is
typically very, very hard for kids,
Yeah.
very hard to work on and, and for
coaches, I'm sure they'd love to give
the kids more time on the pitch to work
on those things, but they don't have the
ability to do that either because they're
working within the same time constraints.
of course Matt is always gonna be
the practical one, but it sounds
to me like in this, what Ditmer is
describing is an institutional way
of thinking about soccer development.
Yeah.
Very different than I think how I
see it in the way we see it here.
It's a very
probably right.
Yeah.
Self-regulation.
That's, uh, it's gonna be my
It's a, it's a, it's really our philosophy
and the, the thing to it is like,
it's like a little bit of perspective.
Like for example, if you guys host
this podcast and you wanna grow,
then I could, for example say, oh,
you should open a page on LinkedIn.
Or I could ask the question,
Hey, how, how could you get more
reach into a bigger audience?
That's like the difference in perspective.
I could tell walk up to this kid
and say, Hey man, you should,
uh, improve your left foot.
Or I could ask you like, uh, the kid,
like, Hey, what do you wanna improve on?
What, what could really help?
Hey, you got into this situation, uh,
you couldn't score with your right foot.
What could have been an other option
and what, what would be needed for it?
And it really triggers this thing that
kids like think about the development and
that's what we really hope to achieve.
That.
Um, to be honest, if you're a coach
of maybe a group of 15 players,
are you gonna manage to get all the
development going just by your own?
It's, and even maybe with two or
three coaches, it was very difficult.
Right.
And obviously we sometimes get
into the situation where we like
kind of force players to say, now
you're gonna focus sometime on
your left foot or whatever skill.
But I guess we give a lot of freedom so
kids can also learn how to make choices.
So if they come to training,
like, okay, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna
work this week on my left foot,
or am I gonna work on finishing?
And then they may be like, when
they're older, they think, okay,
this week we've got a opponent where
I think I will finish, uh, more
often than, uh, the week after.
So I will focus on finishing
instead of maybe left foot.
So that's what we really try to, um, force
heavily into these kids at a young age
that they like self-regulate not only on
development, but also outside football.
So it's like also useful for their
private life, for school, for
maybe if they later have a job.
So talent is spares and we
really think that we have to be
very careful with our talents.
And I think if you, if you
are a club like Ajax, you have
indefinite number of talents
They have so much choice for them.
It's not really needed to do it this
way, but for us, we really think
that this is the best way to approach
it and also to, uh, keep players
into football as long as we can.
What's the philosophy?
As far as coaching during a match at the
U 12 level, how much, how much actual
coaching are you doing or are the players
really just playing and you want to see
how they make decisions and you want to
help them once you get to training or um,
or at halftime or a break in the play?
It really depends.
So, um, I think that's really cool
about our un all under 12 situations
that we have, uh, like four or
five different types of coaches.
So you have the head coach and you have
some assistant coaches and everybody
kind of like brings their own style.
But in essence, our job is
Sorry?
Five coaches.
Five coaches per session.
Yeah, it, it really depends but, uh,
usually in training sessions we have
three to four coaches, like head coach and
then two, two to three assistant coaches.
And with the games we usually
have one coach per team.
'cause we play twin games.
Have I explained what
twin games is by the way?
It's like, um, it's like you have a
football pitch and then, um, uh, the
pitch get divided in like two pitches.
So it's like two times eight V eight,
and the score gets, um, uh, multiplied.
So if one team plays one, one and
the other team plays, uh, also one,
one, it's like two, two, the result.
So if you play games, it's
usually like two times 88.
Yeah.
Which is so, so, rather than having
16 kids, eight V eight, and you're
struggling to get kids playing time,
you're always playing twin games.
So your kids are insured to play enough.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So that's also secure that we have
like playing time for kids and um.
And like in coaching style, we, we
are very much on the encouraging
side, so we encourage one v
ones, we encourage dribbles, we
encourage like a difficult pass.
But uh, that's basically
to how we try to coach.
Sometimes we coach a little bit more,
sometimes we do more observation.
And I'm also more the observation type.
I try to not, not coach too much
and I try to give one or two
tips during, uh, uh, the break.
So we play usually four times, 20 minutes.
So there's also like a lot of time to
do some reflection, uh, take a break.
Uh, but sometimes I also try
to coach like the substitutes.
So we usually, uh, do
substitutes every five minutes.
So somebody comes off, I try to
like ask some questions or give
some feedback or give some tips.
Um, so that's usually our playing style.
Do you, do you, do you begin already
at a young, or maybe it doesn't exist?
I don't know anymore.
Maybe it's a cliche, but do you
ingrain a Dutch style of football
already at an early age or there's,
there's no such term anymore as a, as a
I, I think that like the Dutch way
and when I was younger, you always
heard about, uh, total football.
Mm-hmm.
football, I guess it's not there anymore.
So we also used to have like this,
oh, we have to play in a Dutch way.
And we al always played 4, 3 3.
And uh, I remember when I did like
my coaching, uh, license, uh, some
other coach one time played 4,
4 2, and everybody was like, oh,
why would you play it this way?
There's this one way of football and
it's 4, 3 3, that's how you should play.
But usually these days, I think it
happened with, uh, Louis, I think it
was 20 20 14 in the World Cup in Brazil.
He, he played like a different style
of football, like 5 3 2 or 3, 5, 2.
And that like was the first
change in, in like formations.
But if you look at the ages, we coach,
uh, we don't really look at systems yet.
We don't really look at tactics yet.
It really starts at maybe under
14, under 15, where you, uh,
start more play the tactical game.
How much are kids moved
around positionally?
So you just mentioned U
14, so U 11, U 12, U 13.
I think we have a tendency to say that's
a nine, that's a 10, that's a center back.
Right.
Um, and positional flexibility doesn't
exist maybe to the degree that it can.
And we all know that kids
change significantly, right.
Physically as they grow up and, uh,
and maybe their motor skills improve
so they can play other positions, but
then have gone three or four years
without ever playing another position.
It's difficult to adjust.
How, how, what's the philosophy there?
Yeah, so our philosophy is also kids
until under 12 play basically everywhere.
So they sometimes play
attack, they sometimes play
midfield, sometimes defense.
And even if we don't have a goalkeeper,
some players even go play as goalkeeper.
And then usually, from
under 12, we go to under 14.
We don't have under 13 at the
moment, which probably is a very
nice discussion to have later.
in under 14, they usually go to two lines.
So maybe defense and,
midfield for example.
and that's where they switch.
And usually when they go to under
15, that's where they usually get
between two and three positions.
And then we already start to
slowly specialize, the player.
I, I guess where a lot of coaches
and football clubs get wrong is
they, they try to really develop
kids in a one dimensional way,
and we also do that sometimes.
So with what I said with the
motor skills, that, that, that
is the type of player we scout.
I also think we could maybe scout
2, 3, 4 other types of players,
for example, that is more focused
on a little bit physical part.
And the discussions we have at the
moment is because we are very general
and we try to push a lot of kids into,
the higher, standards of football.
so now it's really
discussion what is next?
And now we try to focus on that.
We have players also developing
what we call a weapon so that
players not only are like.
Scoring, for example.
Yeah, you guys score with a and BI
guess in, in the United States, but
we score, for example, 1 until 10,
but not every player is like a six or
a seven, but that a player also have
like an eight or a nine in some fields.
So for example, crossing or finishing
or, uh, two feet or that, that he can
really bring something special to the
table, uh, to really reach the first team.
Because the feedback we got so
far is that that kids that we
develop are like very general.
So they, they have good
grades on everything, but not
exceptional grades on anything.
So that's what we try to now focus
on, that we have players who have like
in general, score a seven, but have
also two or three maybe in exceptional
situations, four things that are, they
are that they are really exceptional at.
Do.
Do you think that was because there
was too much emphasis on team training,
for example, and not enough emphasis on
the individual elements of development
Yeah, definitely.
So, so that's what I also try to do
with, under 12 at the moment is, if
you're a coach and you have to coach
a team, this goes a lot of time and
effort just to keep the team running.
You have to arrange stuff, you have
to make trainings, and obviously you
make trainings and you hope kids,
do individual development there.
But I think it's very important that
every team also has coaches who focus
on the individual part of football
and spend time with kids to see where
they can improve and, or what their
skills are or their weapons, and
that we try to develop these things.
So there's always, you know, since I've
been coached, there's always been this
discussion to what is more important.
The team sessions or the
individual sessions and how much
time you spend in each field.
So that is obviously very dependent
per player, per team, but I think it's
something you always have to guard as a,
as a coach that you maybe not spend too
much time in the, in the team aspect, but
also not too much time in individuals.
So you always look to, where
do I put more of my time in?
So you have three times trainings per
week, what are you gonna focus on?
And that's where I try to, help the
head coach with as much as possible
at this stage because we did spend
maybe too much time in certain
fields, resulting in a one dimensional
development as well of our kids.
So, so Ditmer when now you that
you're a scout for the older kids.
I, it's almost like two questions in one.
One is those kids obviously
did not come from your academy
or scouting kids from outside.
Where are you going
around to look for kids?
And two as, you mentioned that this
idea of player versus the team, are you
searching for kids at that age that you're
looking for the other kids that can make
it to the top team, or are you looking
at kids to strengthen the the academy?
now my role is really I have to try
and find the player who's able to get
to the first team That's a little bit
of a difference in perspective because
you really gotta find not really
topnotch, but you have to find the
potential that it can be top notch.
And, yeah, it's a question I get
asked a lot if I tell that I'm a
football scout, the first question
is always, oh, what do you look for?
But it's not just that simple
to say, I, I look for this.
Sometimes you just walk into this player,
you see him play and you think Hey, this
kid has a certain thing that I think he,
in this certain role he could play in.
So for example, I one time ran into this
kid who doesn't have very great motor
skills, who's relatively slow, but he
had this great insight into football.
He's a real number six.
And some other scout watched him as well.
He got invited into the academy and
now he plays, plays for the first team.
But.
At the time did I really think, oh, that's
gonna be a prospect for the first team.
Yeah, absolutely not.
But he developed over time, very
consistently and he managed to adapt to
the level and yeah, great credits to him.
so Director Morten talked
about kids who are rockets and
there's so few of them, right?
And you can generally see, like the number
six you'd explained wasn't a rocket,
How do you actually measure the passion?
Because once you get to a certain level,
right, at an elite level, at U 16, let's
call it, the increments of development,
I think seem to be really small.
You can't notice them.
You're not, you're not improving 30%
a year when you're 16 or 17 years old.
They're small, so it has a lot
to do with the environment that
you're in, but also ultimately
your passion and your commitments.
I think as a scout, that seems like
it'd be impossible to actually measure
when you're going through that process.
It's very difficult.
And I think where we, or at least where,
where I try to improve and it's also a
network, is you have to know, what type
of player you scout as personality.
And from that player.
I kind of heard from his, the head of
academy of that football club that he
was he was the captain of the team.
He was willing to learn,
he's able to adapt.
and these are traits
that are very important.
So we also look at potential very
much into the ability to learn.
And if I find out that some kid has
this really good ability to learn,
then that is a big plus for me because,
I think you can look at scouting in
Two ways current current level.
So how good is somebody now
and where is his potential?
And this was definitely a player that I
thought his current level was relatively
low, but his potential was higher.
So, if, if you, for example, find a
player who's really good, but you know,
his willingness or his passion or his
ability to learn is lower, that for me
is already a player who might perform
now but is not a, high potential.
Matt, your question is really
good because it's easy to,
you.
Thank, thank Liron.
Thank
yeah.
You know, it's, I want
Every once, every once in
a while I get a compliment.
Yeah.
I want, I want you to feel good.
This is a feel good.
I already, I already feel
Well, I mean, I, well, I was gonna
say with Ditmer, we, we, feel, uh,
he's already made me so much smarter.
No.
Uh, but, to, to Matt's point,
it's easy to spot a rocket.
Okay.
Let's go back to this
number six that you saw.
You said he had an, an
insight to the game.
What, what, how do you,
how do you define that?
you have a lot of number sixes who always
find the, possibility passing backwards.
And this guy was constantly
scanning, looking around where are
the possibilities going forward?
And he always found spaces where
other players were playing.
And he also found depth.
So he was able to, like, he
had a very good left foot.
He was able to play the
ball forward very easily.
And for me that was very interesting.
okay, he's constantly trying
to scan and play forward.
There's so many number sixes that,
that I get offered who, who never lose
the ball but never take any risks.
Sideways.
A lot of
sideways.
Yeah, exactly.
And, and I guess for him as
well, he very much it, right?
So sometimes he had to play sideways
and sometimes he had to play backwards,
but his intentions were always forward.
So for me, that already marked okay.
He's really constantly scanning, trying
to see where it can go forward, and,
taking initiative, trying to find spaces
that he could, go to and to play forward.
And yeah, that for me, like resonated.
Okay.
This guy is really
interesting for that role
we talk a lot on this podcast, and
I would say in general about how
the American kid has so many other.
Either interests or distractions
outside of football.
here.
When you look at the US and you see the
progress we've made as a footballing
nation, what are you most intrigued by?
What do you think are, are the
challenges beyond if there are ones
For Dutch football you mean, or
It's very, very poorly worded question.
poorly worded.
Let's go back when, when See there.
Oh, thank God.
He can edit this Okay, let's start over.
So, in the US I think part of
the challenge as a footballing
nation is that there's a lot of
distractions for the American kid
from around other sports, right?
When you look at that from
a Dutch perspective, right?
You kids have, I would imagine less
distractions as far as other sports.
Football is still first.
Yeah, so I think like if I look
to like 20 years back and now.
A lot have changed, right?
Like in the sense of devices, Fortnite,
I remember when Fortnite came out, kids
wouldn't play football, outside anymore
and just stay home, play PlayStation.
I really remember that when I, when I
first started as coach, we sometimes
during, holidays would train during the
day and I would have to go to the pitch
and ask players, oh, hey, sorry, we're
gonna have a training session here.
Can you please go?
And that already changed 10 years ago.
there were less kids on the pitch playing.
And you do see that, that, kids
play less in their free time.
But that is also a big possibility, right?
So it means that if you do play football
outside and if you do invest in yourself,
you are ahead of a lot of other players.
but in sense of.
You do see that everybody
pretty much is football minded.
So I think that basically almost
all the players that are currently
coaching under 12th probably
watched some football this weekend.
I, I remember you guys mentioned that in
your podcast that probably not a lot of
players watch football in their own time.
when I get to coaching on, on a session
on Monday or Wednesday, I always hear
kids speak about their, that they watched
Barcelona Real Madrid, So that is very
unique about our culture too, is that
you don't really have to encourage kids
to say, oh, go and watch, football.
So I think that's, that's one of our
weapons as well, is that we have a
culture where football is everywhere.
I mean, let's talk about American
kids 'cause that's what we care about.
Uh, so you and I spoke, you
said you yourself, have not
tried out any American players.
You're not familiar with the
youth market in the United
not very much.
That's, uh, but let's say hypothetically
you would wanna open that both for
market reasons or obviously there's
just a giant market here for, I think,
Matt, correct me if I'm wrong, a lot of
parents who would probably be willing
to experiment playing in, uh, in, in
Holland if they, if they had a chance.
The question is, if you are coming here
looking at 14 or 15 year olds, What
would it take for an American kid?
what would have to jump out at you for,
for this to be a, a worthwhile adventure?
I guess it's still the same answer
that I give before, but uh, I think if
you really wanna come to Europe, you
really have to sacrifice something.
I, right.
It's like move away from
the, the, your, your family.
It's like a long way away.
So I guess if you really wanna make
the step, uh, we did want, want
to have like a player from Canada
who moved to Holland and um, uh,
play for our academy for two years.
For them, uh, adjusting to the
system, adjusting to the way
of living was very difficult.
So they eventually moved back again.
Um, so that, that would be the, the real
challenge, I think it's very difficult
Um, but obviously, for example, a
player gets offered to us and could
be bring us to a higher level.
I think, uh, it would be interesting.
The only big disadvantage for,
uh, the Dutch system is that, um.
Once they get offered a contract,
we need to pay a very high wage.
Uh, and it's like a discouraging,
uh, system, uh, to make sure that you
really focus on homegrown players.
If it's players from outside the
eu, I think we have to pay 150%
of the average wage of the league.
Uh, so these players will
become very expensive.
So that would be another consideration.
But from a development point of view,
if, if a player would come to us and play
for our academy and in, uh, improves our
uh, academy level, I guess it's always
interesting for us to look at if that
would be, uh, a good option for us.
I have a feeling after this episode
he's gonna get a, a few videos.
or, or we can just have Ditmer and
a few of his coaches come here for
a week, two weeks this summer and
have him and organize some camps.
Look, look at that.
What do Ditmer?
Not a bad idea
to be honest, I already checked
like, oh, how expensive is it to
book a flight to, uh, New York, to
be honest, just out of curiosity.
So for me, US football is very new and I
found the insights so far in this podcast
really, uh, breathtaking and very nice.
It's like very interesting to,
uh, follow what you guys have
to tell about, uh, US football.
So
Ditmer.
I'm 50 years old.
Never in my life has what I do, or my
name has been mentioned in a sentence
that has the word breathtaking in it.
So I, I will, I I actually, I'm
going to start the show with that,
and then I'm gonna end the episode.
that's totally fine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If you want me to do more
one-liners, uh, I'm happy.
no, but, but, but you definitely
don't want you to, uh, dm, uh, Matt
after this, about this camp idea.
I, I, I gotta tell you, Matt, I mean,
I could be dreaming, but it's gonna
be a line of kids for something like
it'd be me ask you, can we ask you,
I just want one more question and
then we will we'll let you go too.
We didn't talk about
parents?
parents
Oh, yeah.
As it relates to Dutch youth football
players, what is the culture for parents?
How involved are they?
Yeah, so that's what I found very
interesting, very early on when I,
uh, was listening to your podcast, is
that it's very similar to how you guys
experience and to how we experience it.
Um, we obviously have, um.
issues with parents as well.
And I guess it's not really, and
that's like the, the, the underlining
thing that I find difficult.
It's usually not in plain sight.
It's usually on the background.
It's on the ride on the way home.
It's at the kitchen table.
Uh, we obviously try to influence
parents into what we think
is good for their children.
And, um, I think to win like the hearts
and minds of parents is very important.
We have like two parent
meetings every season.
So at the start of the season
and at the end of the season,
We, we do invite, like we have
four, uh, four uh, moments of the
development conversations, one-on-one
with the players and parents are
present at these conversations.
So we also try to involve and influence
parents in these conversations
to why we do these things.
And our head coach also sometimes
shares in the WhatsApp group with
parents like, okay, currently we're
working on this, this, and this.
This is what expected from the
kids and try to make involvement.
we also notice that the more you invite
parents to come closer, they will actually
take the space and become very close.
I guess if we would put in the
WhatsApp group now, uh, asking
parents like, oh, hey, uh, do you
guys think it would be very nice to
do a press conference after each game?
I think they would absolutely love
it, and they would tear us apart, but,
uh, that, that they would love that.
But that was also like, one of my
questions over there is like, um, uh,
you sometimes Matt told that, uh, you
lacked, uh, communication from coaches.
So could you maybe explain to what you've
been missing in, in, uh, in communication?
I think what's been striking is at
times, I, I, it seems like there's very
little direct communication between
a coach and a player and that, that
What type, what type of
communication do you mean?
Like just informal, formal about football.
Yeah, yeah.
Like getting to know the kid really well.
What motivates them?
What isn't gonna motivate them?
Uh, how quick do they
learn certain concepts?
What are they struggling with?
What feedback do they have?
Um, do they want to play?
Like, are are positionally, do they
feel like they're in the right place?
Ditmer, maybe you want to join me in the
podcast next week and we interview Matt.
That's number one,
Sure.
For example, for me, uh, lavie at
N-Y-C-F-C, there's only maybe one or two
meetings in a year where you sit with a
coach for 10 minutes and then information
then is comes from the academy to you
and what the kid needs to improve.
and add to the point that a lot
of time if a kid wants information
from the coach, they kind of have
to really make the effort to get
that information from the coach.
So I think in that sense, there
is no continuous organized flow of
information coming from an academy to.
To the kid at at those younger ages,
how is that handled in Cambuur?
So what I find very interesting is.
Personal connection between coach,
and this is also like our philosophy.
uh, connection between coach or
coaches and kids, very important.
So our head coach also every season does,
uh, home visit at every player we have.
So he goes there maybe for dinner
or to make like a connection, see
how the situation is there at home.
So our head coach is aware
of, of every situation.
And it's also like when kids come
to training, it's just like this
very simple gesture of giving a high
five asking, Hey man, how are you?
How's your day?
How was your day?
How's it at school?
We find these things very important that,
that we make a connection with kids.
So for me it's sometimes very
surprising that that clubs work with
kids for maybe 10, 20 hours a week,
but have no connection or don't
know how the home situation is or
dunno how they perform in school.
So for us, that's very important.
Wow.
Oh, this is, that's amazing
Yeah.
Ditmer, my friend.
We took, uh, an hour and
32 minutes of your time.
Yeah.
Already it surprised me how fast time
Yeah.
I, there's still so much,
we're, we're only on question,
uh, 18 out of 68, so, uh,
No Ditmer Ditmer.
You, you, uh, you, you're,
you're an incredible human.
Uh, you can tell who, who obviously
under has an incredible understanding
and appreciation for football.
But just your ability to.
Uh, articulate a lot of how you think
about football individually, but over
there, within the club and then from
a country, uh, was really powerful.
So thank you.
you.
And good luck in the, uh, promotion fight.
We are, uh, when are we getting
the, uh, the signed t-shirts?
I just, did I give you
the address for the, I.
I can definitely arrange something.
That's no problem.
Matt, how do you say wow in Dutch?
I don't know, Laure.
If anybody can figure that out, it's probably you.
I'll figure it out.
Look, after this interview, uh, Dididmer
send us a follow-up note and added a few points that
he wished he said more clearly, which by the way, happens to me after
every interview and every conversation I have.
And here's the line that stayed with me from his notes is we
tried to give players ownership of their own development.
So you may be wondering, how did we get this guy
in the north of the Netherlands as a coach and a scout at Cambberridge?
who wanted to come on chasing the game.
We were amazed, too.
He came across our content, fell
in love, and was fascinated by what's happening in
the U.S. or around youth development
and wanted to share a little bit with us.
He defined what that means at Camber.
Self-image, reflection, discipline,
the willingness to invest in you yourself.
He also clarified that they often teach
He also clarified that they often teach
this through implicit learning, drills where
this through implicit learning, drills where
learning happens without constant instruction.
So decisions hold up under real pressure.
So decisions hold up under real pressure.
Yeah, you know, is he zoomed out in a way that matters
to parents here and to us, obviously.
It's a real, amazing environment to grow in, right?
And for you to become a pro.
And one last point on scouting
because this gets often misunderstood.
Dittmer said he focuses heavily on being coachable, willingness
to learn, adaptability, and the ability to reflect,
not just moments.
Those traits predict whether a player will actually improve
inside a demanding environment.
So here are a few takeaways, right, Matt
One, Europe is by no means a shortcut.
It's a responsibility shift.
Two, ownership beats dependence
every time.
Three, Implicit training builds decision makers who
can hold up under pressure.
And four, scouting at this level, is about growth
traits, like coachability, adaptability,
and reflection, which, of course, also aligns very
closely, with motor skills
and what that projects for.
And if you want more episodes like this, follow the show and
keep sending us your questions.
We build the next conversations off of what we're
wrestling with right now in the moment
Matt, I'll see you next time chasing the game.
And as they say in Dutch, shalom.
This is always the best hour of my week.