The Team

The time came up and I met the Team. That dutch speaking fellas, some of them very young, others a little bit old, others wearing glasses and hearing aid machines.

I started my intro speech. No one got a word, nor understood the idea. I skipped it. We went straight to the training grounds, I threw the ball to the ground, kicked it and yelled: "Por siempre hasta la victoriaaaaa!" I wanted to attached some spirit to it, but no one followed.

Training wasn't good, but good enough to be the first one.

We lost 6-1 our first match, and I knew a lot of work was needed to achieve our goals.

The 1st team by that time was:

Henko Hoogeveen (Keeper)

Luca van der Spek (Wing Back)

Jeen Sieraal (Inner Defender)

Olaf Meutstege (Inner defender)

Janco Wijnen (Wing Back)

Dorian Menten (Winger)

Boris Buurstra (Midfielder)

Ko van de Kerkhof (Midfielder)

Jesper Beesems (Winger)

Youp Swaga (Forward)

Sweitse Flokstra (Forward)

These guys were the beginning of this story, the pillars of what the team is today. They understood the essence of my ideas after a while, I know it was hard for them to embrace this mexican wrestling sessions I put them through--necessary requirements to improve; but because of that today I can stand up in the crowd and say: "Hey...listen...I'm proud of my boys, ok? My lads, my team, my 1st eleven, alright? No, no...don't 'shush' me...this is MY Team! Por siempre, hasta la victoria!!"--remember not to do that in the public transport ever again.