Coaches' Review
| Patrick Ladru | Wim Kwakman | Dennis De Haan |
| Simon Tahamata | Gerri Muhren | Bobby Smyrniotis |
Patrick Ladru:
We were very surprised and pleased with the excellent level of the participants in the camp. We were aware of the structure of the sport from Bobby (Smyrniotis) from our various talks and realized many of the problems aligned to development in Canada. Bobby reassured us that the level would be good and it truly was. The Canadian players have a fighting spirit and a will to compete which if balanced with proper training over a period of time can contribute to Canada producing many more professional players. After one week with the children it was great to see how much they learned and the means in which it was applied to their game situations.
We as coaches of Ajax have learned a great deal pertaining to Canadian soccer and hope to offer more possibilities to develop and educate Canadian soccer via our good friends Bobby and Constantine Smyrniotis.
In closing I look forward to seeing the players back at the camp next summer after they have improved in all their areas of play.
I wish everyone well during the year and hopefully we meet again to learn next summer.
Wim Kwakman:
The group of players during the first week were a pleasure to work with. There was a variety of skilled players in different positions who impressed me. The common factor among all these players is their ability to be coached. All of the boys focused on instruction and completed the drills and directions during games precisely as needed. As the kids learned about our training methods and style of play I too learned a great deal from the boys and the style of play which they have learned. The boys also proved that Canada can produce very talented soccer players with abilities to play in Europe.
I hope to see some of these players in Europe in the future. Keep on training and I hope to see everyone next summer in Toronto.
Dennis De Haan:
As coach of the youngest youth team within the Ajax academy I was awaiting eagerly to view the level of players and the interest they had in the sport. Along with my supporting coaches in the camp who helped tremendously we were able to teach the players many technical characteristics of the game most important to development. It is these characteristics that must be mastered before winning and competition becomes part of the children and parents vocabulary. I was very pleased with the level of play and above all the enthusiasm the players had at points during the day. The soccer players of Canada are full of energy.
I will see everyone once again in the following summer and hope to see that the players have improved on all areas of the game.
Simon Tahamata:
Working with children on a daily basis is a pleasure for me at AJAX. Working to help develop children's skills across the world in Canada is an even larger pleasure. The camp was a great experience for all the children to learn the finer points of the game. Along with this it was an opportunity for myself and the other AJAX coaches to learn more about Canadian soccer. This gives us an opportunity to think of how to help in the future to a greater degree with the camps and other programs. Hopefully our good friend Bobby (Smyrniotis) can organize more events to educate the youth players, parents and coaches most importantly of Canada.
Keep on training.
Gerri Muhren:
As an international Scout for AJAX my job takes me to all parts of the world to watch players play and evaluate their performances. This camp gave me the opportunity to come to Canada for the first time to view, train and evaluate players. The players in the camp were a pleasure to work with as the level was very good. The players exemplify good technique on the ball. The players must begin to work on tactical thinking which includes movement without the ball, supporting, decision making and positioning. It is these aspects which separate the players of the camp from those we possess in Europe.
The players of the camp proved that Canadian players have a competitive spirit which is one thing lacking many times in Europe. By using this energy they must focus on learning the game from a tactical sense in order to increase the speed of play and thought.
Bobby Smyrniotis:
This camp provided the participants an inside look as to how the Europeans and foremost AJAX develop their soccer players. It is a systematic approach which appeals to the players on a daily basis as the camp demonstrated. I was very happy with the efforts of all the participants to learn, and above all be motivated on a daily basis throughout the heat which we all endured. The level of the players was excellent which allowed for all players to benefit from the training which was outlined by the Ajax staff. It is my hope that all the players were able to learn from the camp and utilize the information for their further development. We will try our best to give these types of opportunities to the soccer players of the region on a more frequent basis with our European friends from AJAX and other clubs.
Thank you to all who participated in the camp and we hope to see everyone next summer to learn once again from the people of AJAX.
