Legendary Dutch Coach Wiel Coerver Dies at 86
Wiel Coerver: December 3, 1924 – April 22, 2011
Wiel Coerver, founder of Coerver Coaching, a revolutionary system in its day and still relevant 30 years later, passed away Friday morning at the age of 86 in his home town of Kerkrade, Holland.
Coerver had spent over 25 years in the Netherlands as a well respected player and as a coach in Europe, but it was the embracing of video technology in the early 80s that brought him to prominence. With the new technology and his frustration in the lack of individual skills in players along with the emphasis on defense, Coerver set out to change all that.
Coerver realized that through repeated viewing of slow motion video tapes he could analyze the moves of the world’s best soccer players. In doing so he was able to break down the smallest intricacies to each step of the move: The shifting of weight, the change of speed and direction to the balance foot — even which part of the foot would make contact with the ball. In the dissection, he could repeat the move himself and then teach it to young developing players.
Eventually he went on to create a system of training that is used not only by Coerver Coaching world-wide but by many of the best football clubs in the world. In fact, 30 years later, Coerver’s emphasis on individual skills have now become a standard not only for youth players but for professionals as well.
“Wiel was a tough teacher over these 30 years, and constantly pushed us to add and improve our Coerver programs,” said Alfred Galustian, who now runs Coerver Coaching along with Charlie Cook. “Even two weeks ago when I was with him in the hospital, he took out his note pad and drew some new drills! We experienced this passion and energy for almost 30 years, and it made Charlie and I more determined to continually improve Coerver Coaching.”
Simon Whitehead, who runs Coerver Coaching Minnesota, said he never met Coerver even though it had been one of his goals. Whitehead, a native of England, came to the U.S. in the mid 80s and coached soccer but it was Coerver’s book Soccer Excellence that changed Whitehead’s life. Whitehead tried to learn the moves and techniques from the book’s photographs, but he says when the tapes came out, the light came on. “Here was something so different, so unique and so fun that I decided I had to be part of this,” said Whitehead.
Comments are closed.
I followed Coach Coerver over the years and have had nothing but the utmost respect for him. He was a classy dude, and his knowledge for soccer training and strategy was/and is a fundamental for Holland still today.
May his memory remain forever!!
Another legend is gone