Weekly Review 3rd – 9th September 2012

Training with Volendam FC on Tuesday and Saturday. They’re playing alot of games in these weeks and so their trainings are less. I talked with Berry the head coach after Saturday’s training which wasn’t the best because I couldn’t sleep the night before + I was sick earlier in the week.. but he said something like “Nick, It’s good that you’re here because I have a lot of space (uses hand gestures to indicate higher level) to move in”. After he said that, I was about to ask him a question about finding other teams to train with on other days so I can get fit and get my skills back to 100%. He brought up the topic so I guess we were on the same page! So he wanted me to get my fitness back up so I can play in some friendly matches which means I have at least a few more weeks on trial. He told me to ask Erik (Volendam scout who arranged this trial), so now I’m waiting for Erik’s response. I talked to the players more and alot of the reserve players don’t get paid. That’s okay, it’s all about a first stepping stone and they play against some very good teams. Berry was telling me last week they played against a team where 150,000 euro per year is normal for their players. They play against teams like Ajax, etc so any opportunity to play in front of those managers is a great leap!

Watched Netherlands vs Turkey by myself at the Ajax Arena. Was going to go with a few roommates, but plans changed and I bought tickets myself off a tout for 60 euro. I’m sure the first of many matches I’ll watch there, including some big champions league matches I hope!! I was looking at the two Dutch wingers specifically Robben and a bit of Narsingh who I thought was Affelay until now. Here’s what I thought:

– Narsingh was quite ineffective, didn’t get the ball much.
– robben always complaining.. You see his character
– robben wants to take players on and always demanding the ball
– first touch open forward
– robben sprinting his ass off on counter attack, his fitness is good

I can do what Robben does, I just need to execute it. It’s drilled in my head what I need to do when I get the ball as a winger now.. just need to practice everyday with a team so I can do it for real!

Next Week

Yeah I was sick with a fever on Wednesday, Thursday and a bit of Friday. Now I have a cough and I still have a little bit of a sore throat, but hopefully from tomorrow onwards it dissipates and I can follow my full schedule.

Did go to the gym on Monday and I had the doms for like 5 days afterwards. But it’s great, shame I only went once, but from tomorrow I’m ready to go 3x.

Only about 6+ hours completed this week. Next week will be 15 and I am committing to doing at least 2 hours a day. Legoo!