Wiel Coerver, the Albert Einstein of Football
Gary Ireland
Wiel Coerver was considered to be the “Albert Einstein” of football (source: sparta-rotterdam.nl)
Wiel Coerver had an incredible impact on global soccer
There will be few coaches in the world who do not incorporate at least some part of Wiel Coerver’s globally recognized coaching methodology into their training, most without even knowing it.
Wiel's innovative method revolutionized the way players trained and the way coaches teach the game, and his work (created along with his long time assistant Michel Mommertz) provided content for the best selling instructional videos for coaching youth and largest sponsorship of its kind (with Adidas) in youth football history.
Many high profile clubs and organizations have integrated his methods in their programs and hired Coerver’s assistants and protegés, who have influenced the way the game is taught and long term youth player development strategy, on every continent over the past 30 years.
Wiel was the consummate professional and purist. He was a man who wanted to bring creativity and artistry back into the game and help influence youth coaches to teach their players the 'right' way to play. Wiel 'fought the battle' and influenced an entire generation of players and coaches dedicated to bringing beauty back to the game.
I pay homage to one of the greatest forward thinking football 'geniuses' in history.
This is the story of how I met Wiel Coerver, how and why he hired me, how he inspired me, how I benefited from his trainings and material, and how I mastered his method from countless hours rehearsing and demonstrating for over 30 years, resulting in devising my own material based on his work.
I also describe the individuals who worked most closely and directly with Wiel (Michel Mommertz, Ricardo Moniz, René Meulensteen, Simon Ireland and myself) — their achievements and how he influenced them, including quotes from them and other reputable coaches who supported and used his work.
I discuss the foundation of Wiel’s methodology, his motivations for creating his method of coaching and how it develops players in a unique and brilliant way. Many people associate his name with teaching fundamental techniques, however, Wiel was a successful team coach and manager at the highest professional levels (UEFA Cup and Dutch Eredivisie champion with Feyenoord) before engaging in his passion and lifelong quest to help youth players develop.
Finally, I explore why Wiel was enthusiastically revered and idolized by some of the greatest players and coaches but also misunderstood by certain establishment coaches and organizations who were fearful of his work and ignorant of the value of the material and its application.
As with most geniuses, inventors and disruptors who break the mold with new ideas, Wiel was ahead of his time.
Wiel Coerver working with Simon and Gary Ireland, Football Today Magazine, 1988
How We Became Assistants & Proponents of Wiel Coerver
In the summer of 1987, Simon [Ireland] and I were contemplating continuing to play college soccer in the US after recently leaving the #1 ranked College of Boca Raton in Florida to relocate to Lake Placid, New York, where we won the Soccer America Lake Placid Indoor Tournament playing for The British All Stars, a team comprised of the top English college players in the US (with Simon winning tournament MVP).
Afterwards, we were asked to coach at a camp at Manhattanville College before our plans to return to Europe or Australia to play professionally and we used the time to stay in shape and keep our touch sharp. This is where we first met Wiel Coerver and his assistant Michel Mommertz.
During the camp, we struck up a good friendship with Wiel and Michel and our respect and enthusiasm for what we were experiencing was incredible. We were humbled by Wiel's material and Michel’s demonstrations and I believe he was equally impressed with the ability and eagerness we possessed as we tried to learn and adopt the brilliant material. I was inspired and motivated and completely fascinated and felt like I was improving as a player by the minute. We were hooked!
Even after the entire day on the field, Simon and I would spend hours in the dormitory hallway trying to familiarize ourselves and master the material that we might have to demonstrate to the players. We also knew it was making us better given we were still planning to play after the summer ended. Within days, I felt smoother, more in-touch with the ball, more balanced and more confident.
I recall one day staying after the field session late in the afternoon trying to rehearse the left foot step-on. I felt it wasn't quite right because my balance on the takeaway felt awkward and it bothered me that I couldn't do it and feel comfortable on the ball. I think I did hundreds of the same exercises working on my left foot, occasionally going back to my right foot to compare and contrast the difference. Not feeling satisfied that the movement mirrored what I was doing on my 'good' foot, I kept at it. At one point, I glanced over and saw Wiel watching me from a bench near the cafeteria and I thought to myself 'Oh no - I hope he wasn't watching me do that because I was crap!' However, looking back, I wonder if he might have been impressed that I was practicing his material when everyone had long left the field.
After our stint in Lake Placid, and after declining several college soccer scholarship offers, Simon and I returned to London and to our delight our efforts were rewarded with an invite by Wiel to work in Dubai at the Al Wasl club along with Michel. A few days later, two KLM tickets to Dubai arrived in the mail and we were off.
After Dubai, we returned to Australia in 1988 to play. We were selected to the Queensland Men’s State Team after playing one game with our new club team (Mount Gravatt Hawks FC in Queensland), and selected for the Queensland State Super Six team to play against Manchester City, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. I know with certainty that our eye-opening experience with Wiel and Michel, and the time and effort we put into learning and mastering the material, and applying it to our own game, made a marked difference in helping us excel and gain recognition.
Football Queensland (QSF at the time) asked us to do a coach education camp in outback Queensland and with the help of our father Victor, and with permission from Wiel, we introduced his material to Australia for the first time through an invite by New South Wales Soccer Federation Director of Coaching David Lee (coach of Harry Kewell), and made the first presentation of Wiel Coerver's material to leading figures in Australian football including state and club coaches and administrative staff as well as Bernie Mandic, the future agent for Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka. We demonstrated ball mastery and speed of footwork coordination material in street clothes on stage in front of a transfixed crowd - they had never witnessed this before. I even put on a demonstration of Wiel's material for the Queensland State team in the hallway of the hotel in Fiji one evening because they wanted to see how I warmed up and self trained and were curious what I did.
Shortly after, we brokered the sale of ‘Coerver 1-2-3’ coaching series video between SLS/Philips Lighting Company and Australia’s ‘Mr. Soccer’ Les Murray of SBSTV, profoundly impacting the Australian soccer youth development and commercial landscape. We also received great publicity from Australia's best soccer reporter Mike Cockerill of the Sydney Morning Herald. Les Murray was very supportive, giving us volunteer editing jobs at SBSTV which was just around the corner, which became content on live television each evening on 'The World Game', at the time Australia's premier soccer TV show. Soon afterwards 'Coerver Coaching' formalized its agreement with Football New South Wales making it the official youth development curriculum. We owe Les a big favor for salvaging our careers and supporting us through some dark days.
The same year, we demonstrated the very first training session with Coerver’s material to New Zealand football at the invite of the National Director of Coaching Terry Conley for the Canterbury Soccer Association and New Zealand Soccer Association.
I returned to the US later, and on the basis of my ability as a player and experience as a demonstrator of what was the world’s cutting edge technical training material, I was hired to be the lead demonstrator for Hubert Vogelsinger in California, Wisconsin and Connecticut.
How Wiel Influenced Me as a Player and a Coach
Wiel, along with Michel, took myself and Simon under his wing and reinforced in us the importance of individual technical development. We were taught all of the exercises in person and received a tremendous amount of information. Wiel was tough but caring and had a passion and professionalism second to none.
If you asked me how I learned Wiel's material, and probably the reason why he hired Simon and I, it’s probably because I wouldn't stop until I perfected whatever was thrown at me. I was obsessed. I couldn't wait for the next day and what awaited us when we were working for Wiel. We simply hadn't seen this type of material before, at least not in the way it was presented to us. I kept asking myself 'why weren't we taught this before?'
Wiel was a perfectionist. Just when I thought I was doing it right, Wiel would correct me and point out that I was too stiff and rigid and not smooth enough and then I was back to work polishing my skills trying to get comfortable with the new material. I didn't write any of it down. I simply did the exercises until it was stored in my football memory bank. Not being able to do the movements to his expectation of quality wasn't fun, but to impress the man was something I was eager to do because he had such high standards and was held in such high regard.
Fortuitously, I was exposed to Wiel’s material during the peak of my playing years, so I had a strong motivation to self-train and self-teach in order to be able to apply it to my own game. I became both the student and my own teacher, or simultaneously the player and the coach, which was an ideal scenario for learning. The thousands of hours I spent on each of the exercises, with the purpose of being able to use it as a player myself, enabled the material to become deeply ingrained in my DNA.
I was in the stage in my playing career where I was desperately seeking additional ways to improve my game. Not tactically or physically, because I was very well grounded there after stints at Barcelona and Chelsea, but my touch and comfort on the ball was lacking and his material was exactly what I needed. I was a top level college player but knew there were levels beyond this and I was hungry to be the best I could be. Cooper Test/stamina/fitness - no problem. Video analysis and tactical analysis - no worries. Resilience, resolve, toughness - those qualities came easy to me. What I needed was a better touch, better feel for the ball, better timing, proprioception and symmetry. I was 20 years old and felt like I was going back to school - football school!
Wiel’s material inspired a self-driven player like myself to work even harder at my craft.
I memorized the material so that I could self train anywhere, at any time, and didn't need to wait for team practice or for someone else's instruction. Nobody saw the amount of work I put into my personal game. I would arrive 2 hours before games and warm up using the speed of footwork and ball mastery material that Wiel taught us. I learned that technique and skills can be acquired and developed through through hard work and self-practice and although I was never a naturally talented 'gifted' player, through Wiel's exercises, I grew rapidly, became more confident and learned not be afraid of the ball in any position and in any situation.
The difference that separates most players from the top levels of the game is that they are not self motivated and many don't know how to self practice. I still cannot understand why anyone would want to wait for others to make you better and worse still, why anyone would want to blame others for their lack of performance.
I once saw an interview with Kobe Bryant saying that if he didn't get picked, he told people around him who were upset about him not getting picked (family, friends, former coaches) to not look for excuses and instead he trained and worked harder (and smarter) so they they couldn't leave him out. I love that attitude. Players should go out and seek knowledge, leave no stone unturned and keep learning and improving. Don't blame your first touch or ball comfort and control on systems, formations, philosophies and bad luck. Take ownership of your own game!
Most of what I learned from Wiel was never put in a book or video.
Neither were necessary as I had the opportunity to learn from the master himself. I went over his material minute detail with him, during and after lunch and dinner with Simon and Michel in New York and later in Dubai. There were many wonderful moments Simon and I would sit with Wiel and Michel going over exercises and movements with Wiel famously ripping up napkins into little balls and using them as figurines to illustrate new exercises. Looking back, I'm thrilled that we were actually watching him create his exercises on a table in front of us while the whole world would get to see them later on video or in a book! It was a tremendous honor and opportunity.
Wiel did write a book, which he showed us in the car on the way to JFK airport and there were also some videos of his work which had some of the material, but I never saw them or read them in depth until many years after I worked with him, as truthfully, much of the material wasn't at the level of we did with Wiel and Michel. Unsurprisingly, Wiel was not a big fan of book or video for teaching purposes, as he felt that those avenues lacked the interaction that a direct discussion or teaching in person could provide, and that the delivery was too one-sided. He of course always preferred to be on the field. However, the book and videos were ways to share his material with more people, if not the most ideal medium. I later heard from Michel that Liverpool FC Assistant Manager Pepijn Lijnders always had Wiel’s book in hand while he was working under Ricardo Moniz at PSV Eindhoven.
Perhaps the clearest indication of the significance of Coerver’s methodology is the benefit and relevance it has for players of any age or level.
After our stint in New York with Wiel, Simon and I returned to England but opted out of remaining there (where I was at Chelsea as a youth player and scoring goals for top non-league team Walton & Hersham and Kingstonians with offers to play in Scotland, Middlesborough and Doncaster with Billy Bremner), as well as returning to US to play college despite several scholarship offers. Instead, Simon and I returned to Australia.
Upon arriving in Australia, we were headlined as the main players for the Queensland State team. Our immediate selection to the the State outdoor and indoor teams was unheard of and made headlines because we were young players and had played only 1 club game before being selected. We played in the Queensland-hosted 'Super Six' event, which included English Premier League/1st Division Champions Arsenal FC featuring stars Alan Smith and Michael Thomas, scorers of goals at Anfield, alongside Lee Dixon and David Roecastle, Paul Stewart, Trevor Morley and Stewart Pearce of Manchester City. Des Walker and Nigel Clough of Nottingham Forest also featured. New South Wales and Victoria State teams featured Australian National Team legends, current Australian National Team Coach Graham Arnold (Roda, Liege, Charleroi, Breda), Robbie Slater (Anderlecht, Lens, Blackburn, West Ham, Southampton, Wolves) and Frank Farina (Brugge, Bari, Strasbourg, Lille).
Simon and I were also selected to play 3 games in Fiji against Fiji, with me starting for the team on 3 occasions; however Simon, touted as the best player in Queensland, was injured and unable to play. With Simon, I was being considered the best young talent in the State, and among best in the country. I received the highest player rating performance scores for my match performances of any player in the entire State, with Simon second in rankings (source: Queensland Soccer Magazine).
Once again, I credit Wiel’s material and the time I spent with him, and on my own game, with making a difference. I was vastly improved technically since leaving for Europe, but I was also very fit, and was recorded as being the fittest player on the Queensland State team (source: Queensland Soccer Magazine), which I'm proud of given I wasn't athletic or fast player until my latter teenage years. Simon and I would train daily on our own 2x per day at least, much of it in the deep sand on the beach which helped make my movements more powerful due to the extreme challenge of running and dribbling in the sand. My power and stamina alongside my technical improvement was improving simultaneously. Because I knew the movements and was doing them much more quickly, I was able to train at speed and intensity on and with the ball which is the best type of fitness and also more useful for game situations. The last minute of a game was when I felt like I was just getting warmed up!
This, to me, was an ideal example of the pinnacle of Coerver’s purpose - to inspire, provide for and enable the individual with a superb platform, which along with the other key elements of the game - physical, tactical, mental - could be seamlessly melded together to elevate the player to the heights of their capabilities. Coerver at his best represented aspirational football — the kind that we all want to be a part of or watch.
My progress had little to do with team and club or select team practices. The support of my family and guidance from my father (who was a top professional player with Leeds United at 17 years of age), along with my ability to self practice Wiel Coerver's material, which both he and Michel taught us with intensity and to the highest quality, was instrumental in my development. However, while I owe a lot of success to all of them, it was my personal desire to train my actions and movements to perfection and my inner drive to be the best player I could be which carried me on.
‘Advancing & Enhancing’ - Mastering Wiel’s Material & Creating My Own
Gary juggling on the Gold Coast beach, Australia, one of the places where he would self-train for hours as a young player
Over the last 30 years, or several hours a day for most of the year, I have been crafting and illustrating my player development material, inspired by Wiel Coerver, Hubert Vogelsinger, and others. I've developed thousands of ball mastery and body mastery exercises as a result of refining and perfecting the exercises in order to be able to present a strong demonstration and professional image to the players I train. Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours theory pales in comparison to the the time I put into refining the the content and delivery of the material.
A lot of my inspiration came from Wiel and Michel directly and from actually doing and showing the material (Wiel regularly selected myself and Simon to demonstrate), watching other coaches and players demonstrate, adapting various nuances of movement for not only my coaching delivery but also for practical use as a player, and experimenting and understanding which exercises are for speed of footwork and flexibility versus which are practical for game situations.
As a result of my extensive immersion and continued motivation to discover more layers to the material, I developed my own hybrid material which borrows from Wiel's methods, advancing and refining his teaching in many ways by creating new exercises and content and adapting and modifying existing ones. This collaborative material I have created and formulated is applied in all team formations, strategies and philosophies, as ball mastery doesn't discriminate!
Over the years, I have continuously demonstrated the material at multiple youth clubs and federations and worked with top professional, college and youth players, receiving endorsements from UEFA instructors, Pro license clinicians, men’s and women’s national team coaches, youth national team coaches, World Cup players, NCAA champion coaches and players, Premier League Academy managers and directors, and professional technical directors.
Wiel Coerver's assistants have influenced the way players are taught on every continent over the past 30 years.
Only a few people have ever been hired by Wiel directly: Michel Mommertz, Gary and Simon Ireland, René Meulensteen, and Ricardo Moniz. Simon and Gary met Wiel and Michel in New York and Dubai and Rene was introduced by an associate of Alex Ferguson in Qatar, while Pepijn worked under Ricardo Moniz at PSV Eindhoven and Ricardo contacted Wiel directly himself in Dubai. Piet worked with Ricardo in Switzerland, where Ricardo invited Wiel to visit, and later, Piet took Wiel on a visit to Liverpool FC. Carine Ireland worked with Simon and Gary for 20 years, while Peter Horvath worked with Simon and Gary for 10 years at World Soccer in California.
Wiel's 20+ year assistant Michel Mommertz was responsible for and instrumental in developing, co-creating, demonstrating and coaching much of Wiel's material including preparing and training players for the original video series. he traveled the world with Wiel demonstrating to hundreds of clubs and leagues, did video and book launches and was a huge part of creating Wiel's material.
Former, PSV Eindhoven, Spurs, Red Bull Salzburg, Hamburg Technical skills coach Ricardo Moniz (now with Zalaegerszeg), was a direct assistant to Wiel Coerver in Abu Dhabi/UAE, working side by side with him for several years. He trained players such as Van Der Vaart. From 2005 until 2008 Moniz position at Spurs was that of skills coach under Martin Jol. Moniz’s job was to polish the skills of the first team players and help improve those of the younger players coming through, in manner of Rene Meulensteen at Manchester United. Young players he helped were Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon. Under Harry Redknapp Spurs, at their most threatening, focused much of their play in the wide areas.
Former Australian Men's National team Assistant coach René Meulensteen ran Manchester United Youth Academy and became first team coach at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson for 12 years, winning many trophies. He trained Ronaldo, Van Persie, Van Nisteleroy, Wellbeck.
California based Australian/English brothers Simon Ireland (LinkedIn & Soccerbook.com) and Gary Ireland (LinkedIn & Soccerbook.com) were hired by Wiel to become his assistant alongside Michel at Al Wasl in Dubai after working briefly together in the USA. The brothers introduced Wiel's material to Australia and New Zealand and have been developing players in California for 25 years. In 2002-03 Gary was hired by Liverpool FC Academy Manager John Owens and legendary Liverpool player and Academy Director Steve Heighway who were coaches of Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen to coach at Liverpool FC Academy and has trained players all over the world.
Former Dutch international player Piet Hamberg was head of global youth academies at Grasshopper Zurich with Ricardo Moniz and Piet Hamberg became Liverpool FC Academy Technical Director after Steve Heighway's departure. Hamberg also worked at Al Dhafra; Al Jazira, was Assistant National team manager of Togo; ES Sahel (Head of Youth Academy); Red Bull Salzburg as Head of Global Academies and Assistant to Ricardo Moniz; Al Jazira (Assistant Coach); Al-Ittihad (Assistant Coach). Piet invited Wiel Coerver as special guest to Liverpool FC in 2008.
Simon and Gary trained leading female technical trainer Carine Ireland (contact on LinkedIn & Soccerbook.com) who worked with the for 18 years and has become one of the best female technical trainers of players and demonstrators of ball mastery material in the USA and greater region.
The Technical Director of Puskas Academy in Hungary, Peter Horvath (contact on LinkedIn & Soccerbook.com) worked as Assistant to Gary and Simon for many years, learning a great deal from them and is now passing onto some of the best players in Hungarian football.
Former FC Porto Academy Technical Director and current Liverpool FC Assistant coach Pepijn Lijnders worked under Ricardo Moniz at PSV Eindhoven and owes a great deal of his education, material and beliefs to Ricardo and his inspiration from his idol Wiel Coerver although he didn't achieve his lifelong ambition to work directly under him. He was brought into Liverpool FC by manager Brendan Rogers and was retained by current manager Jurgen Klopp. (The current LFC Academy Director was also an understudy to Moniz while at Tottenham Hotspurs.) Pepijn runs first team trainings for Klopp and oversees the integration of players from the youth academy into the first team squad and can also be found assisting Klopp and instructing players from the sideline with Liverpool FC’s 1st Team.
Tom Byer was not a coaching assistant to Wiel but did help commercialize and popularize the Coerver Method in Japan and had a significant influence and lasting impact in helping grow grassroots and youth football there.
Inter-relationship of Wiel Coerver’s primary assistants, protegés, evangelists. These individuals have either worked directly as Wiel Coervers assistants or learned from and worrked with these assistants. [source: Gary Ireland, 2022]
Why Did Coerver Feel the Need to Invent His Method of Coaching?
Making Sense in a Fast Changing World and Filling the Void in Coaching & Player Development
Coerver believed that it was the player that made mistakes, not the ball and that basic skills and techniques weren't being learned and taught enough by youth coaches and that players weren't able to exploit opportunities and carry out tactical instructions because of their lack of skill and too much emphasis placed on systems based, organized team tactics and generic physical training that was not 'ball-centric.'
At the time Wiel started his work in the late 1970s and early 1980s, many top clubs were using defensive tactics to win at all costs and he felt that the game needed more technical creativity for it to be a valued spectacle and an enjoyable form of entertainment, and the sooner players learned and acquired advanced technical training, the better. Wiel felt that technical ability forms the foundation upon which all other aspects are built. He wanted to see more goal scoring opportunities and more individual movements and actions from players which in turn would result in creating more entertaining players and teams and more winning results, and thus, more spectator satisfaction.
While Wiel didn't invent many of the so called ‘moves,’ he did ‘codify’ the actions and movements and create unique speed of footwork coordination exercises and technical combinations, and integrated them into collective movements in at attempt to make them realistic and relevant game-related exercises. He taught his material in a simple, step-by-step, progressive and understandable way so that anyone could learn to be a better player, to be more comfortable on the ball and enjoy the game more, regardless of level and age.
Few people had the conviction that Wiel did with regards to teaching in football. I recall when he described his disagreement with Charles Hughes, the former Technical Director of the FA, over a 'short corner' debate. Wiel wanted the England youth team in training to take a short corner to Roderick Thomas but Hughes insisted on taking a long corner and a debate ensued. According to Wiel, the disagreement as to which was the best approach resulted in Wiel resigning as technical advisor to the FA. If they would have taken the short corner Wiel would still have remained. Such was his conviction.
Why Was Coerver Not Embraced By The Dutch Federation?
After being heralded in Holland as a ‘genius,’ why was Wiel Coerver rejected suddenly by his long time associate, Dutch National Team coaching legend Rinus Michels, and then later was awarded the Rinus Michels Award by the official football coaches union of Holland ("Coaches Betaald Voetbal") along with 10 other winners since 2004, including de Haan, Beenhakker, van Gaal, Hiddink, Cruyff, Adriaanse, Advocaat and Marwijk? Rinus Michels created this prize for trainers who have delivered special achievements for Dutch football during their career.
Why did Johann Cruyff, a person considered to be one of the greatest players in history, who built Barcelona to what they are today and the father of the hugely successful Pep Guardiola (coach of Manchester City, Barcelona, Bayern Munich), fail in his appeal to the KNVB (Dutch Football Federation) to take on Wiel Coerver's technical material stating that all players from Ajax to local school teams should be obliged to be trained on Wiel's material and cited it was needed because he could only count on the fingers of one hand the number of professionals who could use three of the six variants of kicking technique: inside, instep and the outside of both feet (source)
Rinus Michels and Cruyff valued the individual and Cruyff especially loved the material and made an effort to have the KNVB adopt it into the national training curriculum but they only saw value in individual training within the context of the whole. They felt that teaching young players how to do a movement, action or skill turn did not help them understand WHY to do the it. Cruyff eventually admitted to it and tried hard in his latter years to promote Coerver, however, Michels didn’t understand the value and importance of the technical and how it contributed to the whole.
How does Wiel Coerver, the person brought into English Football Association (The FA) to reinvent the youth development curriculum by England coach Sir Bobby Robson, and endorsed by Sir Stanley Matthews, Bobby Moore, and Peter Beardsley resign in frustration due to differences in approach on the development of players? Even Liam Brady, Karl Heinz Rummenigge and Franz Beckenbauer, endorsed him.
Are the egos of the coaches the reason why Wiel’s material isn’t embraced?
In 2003, World Soccer Magazine reporter Gardner, asked Liverpool FC Academy Director Steve Heighway “Which is the danger to the development of creative players - under coaching or over coaching?”
Heighway responded “this biggest danger is coaching the team, rather than the player... coaches feel more comfortable developing a team than working with a magnificently skillful left winger because the coaches often don't have the same skills as the player.”
When Liverpool FC hired me to coach and demonstrate for the players, largely based on my work with Wiel Coerver, Steve said to the coaches, “if you can’t demonstrate better than the players, then get them to do it for you.”
Heighway suggested that as coaches get older and lose their technical ability to demonstrate and illustrate it can cause embarrassment and damage to their ego, so they should instead ask for players to demonstrate the required technique because young players want to see the exercise being performed by a competent and capable demonstrator. He also said that coaches should put their pride and ego to one side and not hold back players from learning opportunities because they are fearful of losing face.
At the time, I was one of the only coaches who demonstrated better than the players so I was not sensitive to this and did not need to ask players to demonstrate when I could do it myself. Even now, although I'm not as mobile as I once was, I still show players what I'm asking them to do. However, for the most part, Heighway does have a very good point. No former player wants to be outshone or outdone by younger players. Coaches and former players have spent a lifetime building and protecting their egos. So rather than put themselves out there to be scrutinized and feel embarrassed, coaches tend to create more functional material with a tactical emphasis and avoid, steer around technical material involving a ball altogether.
Coerver was demonstrating well into his 60s. However, older coaches who take care of themselves physically can provide ample and respectable visual demonstrations for young players and don’t need to be exhibiting at technical sills at game speed. The ability to teach young players is rare and often cannot be found in many organizations and is often overlooked in most coaching licensing and education symposiums courses.
If Wiel Coerver’s material has been heralded by some of football’s leading figures, then why has it not been more embraced and utilized?
People often tend to fear rather than embrace when something is disruptive or new or difficult to do and understand. It's a human trait that often results in a ‘cultural drift’ towards rejection of innovation due to disregard for the unknown, and this becomes the enemy of progress.
One of the misconceptions about Coerver is that he only taught ball skills in isolation with no real world application. Coerver’s methodology was based on improving the individual, which improves the team. The better the individual, the better the whole, as the sum of all parts is greater than the whole and being better on the ball will only help a team’s performance. Coerver understood that we have to optimize individual capabilities in order to create the best team and the best football.
Some miss the point that the ball mastery material improves speed of footwork, passing, receiving, turning, shielding and guiding the ball through improved balance and ball-feeling but that doesn't mean that movement, positional play, cognitive skills, decision making, etc. aren't vitally important. There may be no immediate sign of the skill acquisition because although players have learned the mechanics of the move well they may not yet have internalized the activity to be able to implement it in a game against real opposition and a lot of early work hasn't been directly linked to the later stage of development yet. Additionally, many players opt not to use these movements and prefer instead to keep things simple.
Additionally, in order to impact the game and to use individual actions, these techniques, like other aspects of the game, need to be trained and rehearsed. Guiding and teaching players how to rehearse and learn the material can be extremely challenging, i.e. how to be brave and have courage, express themselves, to dare, be audacious, and to exhibit confidence and creativity. To do this, teachers need to create the right environment, not only provide content.
The job of the teacher and coach is to also teach where, why and when to use the actions and how they can be effective. Teaching the movements in isolation, without imagination or a vision of the desired outcome is not the objective.
At the same time, rehearsing the movements in isolation is a necessary element of helping a player develop tools to be used in game like situations. Most top players and athletes trained outside the club and team structure and without the guidance of a team/systems based coach, and much of their development came from training in isolation. This is where Coerver’s work is incredibly valuable. It’s accessible to the individual when they are away from a formal team environment. People who criticize juggling and training against the wall, for example, also tend to criticize Coerver’s material.
There's also a reason why there aren't more people teaching and coaching Wiel's materials. It takes many years to develop the qualities necessary to be a world class technical teacher of young players. It is very difficult to teach, demonstrate, and explain the material. You actually have to do it to learn it and you have to feel it to know how to coach it and teach it; there are no shortcuts. I've only met six coaches (three whom I currently work with) who have ever shown a real interest (and ability) in learning the material but everyone in the soccer world talks about Coerver material and how good it is.
In my career, I have met many 'coaches' who without even trying to teach Wiel’s material (because they couldn't), criticized and ridiculed it. At the same time, I've not met a high level player who didn't love and value the material, which is very telling. Those who cannot actually do the material tend to criticize it because it's beyond them and they don't understand the benefits of the exercises, and frankly their egos get in the way. Some have not played at a reasonably high level so do not comprehend its benefits, while others have played the game at a high level but feel like they are naturally talented and are too lazy and resist the notion that even gifted players have room to, and can, improve.
I remember arguing with a former goalkeeper who coached college soccer in the US. He was critical of Coerver's material and couldn't teach any of it, let alone comprehend it. I defended Wiel and his material and got into a confrontation with him because of his dismissal of the material and the derogatory comments he made without ever meeting Wiel, seeing his work or attempting to understand it.
Understanding the benefits of Coerver’s methodology and his materials means that one needs to identify and appreciate the importance of individual technical development as one of the fundamental building blocks necessary to nurture great players, and therefore, great teams. Coaches must differentiate between long term individual technical development and team systems and strategy and short term results-based solutions. Coaching licensing courses tend to focus on training the collective and team and end up confusing team management and selection and optimization with individual technical development.
Critics of Wiel Coerver will have to argue with some of the world’s leading experts in coaching and development
Is it coincidence that René Meulensteen was at Manchester United alongside Alex Ferguson when they enjoyed their most successful spell?
Famous players Van Persie, Van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo saw the value in the material provided to them by Coerver protegés Meulensteen and Moniz.
Wiel was called “The Boss” by former Dutch player Piet Hamberg who took over from Steve Heighway as Liverpool FC Academy Director.
Wiel influenced leading coaches of Spurs, Porto, Puskas, Red Bull, Hamburg and many others and his material inspired the youth coaching and video series 'Coerver Coaching.'
Critics of Wiel Coerver should criticize Wiel's assistant Michel Mommertz, Ajax Amsterdam, Ricardo Moniz/Red Bull/PSV/Spurs/Grasshoppers/Hamburg, Sir Bobby Robson, Liverpool FC Assistant Coach & Porto Academy Director Pepijn Lijnders, most of Japan’s men’s and women’s professional and national team youth coaches and coaching curriculum (courtesy of Tom Byer), Arjen Robben, Manchester United Academy and former Australian National team coach René Meulensteen, Peter Horvath Technical Director of Puskás Academy, myself at Liverpool FC Academy along with Simon Ireland (one of the best/most technical players to have played in the US) and Carine Ireland and numerous National Federations and professional clubs, youth academies, highly respected and successful coaches, former players and past and current legends.
Wiel Coerver
My experiences with Wiel Coerver continue to have a profound and lasting impact on me
I had the privilege of knowing Wiel for nearly 20 years. He was an incredibly powerful and positive influence in my playing and coaching career - a genius.
We were in touch until 2005 when we were to meet in Dubai but he told me he wasn't well and couldn't make it. The last time I saw him was when I went to his home in Kerkrade earlier the same year. He was still at it - inventing and analyzing - and still the purist. He was quick to present his analysis of the state of the game. Several famous managers called asking his advice when we were there. He had some sore points about the game but nothing deterred him from improving his craft and trying to help develop better, more technically capable, creative players.
It’s easier to destruct than to build. Easier to tear down than that to construct; easier to disparage than to build credibility; easier to criticize than to compliment. Through his positive and innovative approach, Wiel gave hope to those players who had been ignored or neglected and for talented players to realize their gifts.
Wiel can be proud of his achievement and influence in the game. He gave many of us hope as players who were searching for more knowledge and ways of self improvement. His teaching laid the foundation for my own trainings and I have since incorporated them into my coaching material.
To this day, I continue to try to achieve the highest standards in coaching and demonstrating and to pass on a philosophy of the pursuit of excellence. Wiel proved that age has no boundaries and that coaches should remain healthy and active in order to be able to demonstrate at the highest levels to provide strong visuals. At 65 years of age he was demonstrating better than 25 year old professional players!
Thank you Wiel for bringing much sunshine and enlightenment to football around the world! I was proud to have been one of your few personal coaching assistants. You (and Michel) taught us an incredible amount.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
I have not worked for or been associated with the independent private company 'Coerver Coaching' in any capacity and this work and material is only focused on my work directly with Wiel Coerver himself, his material and philosophy and the people who worked directly with him outside the 'Coerver Coaching' business. None of the material in this article references 'Coerver Coaching' for promotional purposes.
Simon Ireland and I, like Michel Mommertz, Ricardo Moniz, Piet Hamberg, René Meulensteen and Pepijn Lijnders, were not involved with the ‘Coerver Coaching’ business.
