The educational trip of the Athens Goalkeepers Academy to the Netherlands, between 3-8 January 2024, was successful. Four selected AGA goalkeepers were trained and evaluated by teams from the Eredivisie and other divisions, while having the opportunity to learn about the football philosophy of a country with a huge tradition in the football.
The kick-off took place with training and evaluation in The Hague by goalkeeper coaches from Excelsior and Den Haag. For Excelsior, the experienced GK Coach of the first team John Bos, who previously played in the Eredivisie for Sparta Rotterdam, was present, while for Den Haag the training programme was conducted by Thom van Vliet.
The second day we had a programme by Vitesse’s GK Coaches at the team’s training centre in Arnhem. This was the 2nd consecutive year that the Dutch club hosted our Academy.
Utrecht’s day was our 3rd on Dutch soil, as our athletes were trained by the club’s GK Coaches, at their training centre. One of AGA’s goalkeepers even did a program with Utrecht’s U15!
Of course, everyone was given a tour of the excellent facilities and listened to valuable advice from the coaches.
On the fourth day, the training and evaluation programme was supervised by Rene Stam, at the Aiselstein’s stadium.
He is AGA’s official partner in the Netherlands, he is goalkeeping coach of the Dutch national U17 team and has worked for 12 years at Ajax, among others!
Big thanks to Rene Stam for his contribution to the fulfillment of this training trip, for the valuable knowledge and the beautiful experience!
The last day of the Athens Goalkeepers Academy’s presence in the Netherlands was fully educational!
After four days of hard training and evaluation from five different teams in the country, our Academy’s had a great tour at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
The impressive Ajax stadium, the legendary trophy museum, the changing rooms and the pitch are an important part of the modern history of European football. We believe that it is important for our athletes to get a taste of this history and be inspired by legends such as Johan Krof, Edwin van der Sar and others.
Εven more, we believe it is important for them to be taught the philosophy of one of the top academies on the planet. Building the right athlete, after all, starts with building the right character.
In addition to the tour of the stadium, our athletes had the opportunity to walk around the centre of Amsterdam, before flying, on Monday (8/1), back to Greece.
