St. Louis Scott Gallagher Illinois, one of the premier clubs in the United States, recently completed a trip to the Netherlands as part of the growing partnership with Feyenoord, one of the best Academies in the world. 

The trip involved the U14 Academy team and the U13 Pre-Academy team, a total of 31 players. The partnership with the Dutch club facilitates one team trip per season while the club also has the opportunity to bring players to train at the club as well during different trips over the course of the year. 

Since the partnership began 10 months ago, Blake Decker, the Boys Director of Coaching for St. Louis Scott Gallagher, has noticed some of the adjustments that the club has made based off the feedback from Feyenoord. 

“Starting in August, we did a complete inventory and analysis of our program, age group by age group, top to bottom as well as looked at how each level interacts with one another, after which we presented it to Feyenoord staff,” Decker told TopDrawerSoccer. “Between that process and several trips to Rotterdam where we had the opportunity to meet with senior level members of the Feyenoord Academy Leadership including the clubs' Technical Director, Academy Director (U13-U18) and Football Schools (U7-U12), we have begun to implement changes on both a macro (program wide) and micro (individual age group/player) level. While this is an ongoing process, it has already led to changes in our staffing structure, training methodology, curriculum and planning which we feel will better fit our goal to progress our players from the youngest ages into our first team.”

On this specific trip, the feedback was different from what the St. Louis Scott Gallagher coaches heard last year. 

“Cleary, the feedback will always be slightly varied with the level of the group given we are taking over different players than we did two year ago, however, certain patterns do emerge,” Decker said. “In the first year, the foundational technique of the players was one of the main areas of focused feedback. Since then, the feedback has progressed more towards the tactical, specifically with the application of technique in game situations garnering more of the focus as opposed to the technical foundation of the average player. As it relates to our individual players who have trained at Varkenoord with the Feyenoord Academy, of which there are now a total of five unique players over the past three years, the instances of additional training opportunities being offered upon conclusion of a players first training stint has increased since year one.”

As for the coaches’ perspective, there are a number of differences that stood out between the coaching in the Netherlands and the U.S. 

“This is a conversation that we have frequently, especially after returning from a trip,” Decker said. “In an attempt to be concise, I think the best way to describe it is that, compared to most American clubs, the overall sense you get when visiting Varkenoord is that of a school or academic setting. This applies not only to the coaches interactions with the players, but also the overall environment that Feyenoord has created at Varkenoord. The facility itself is not state of the art compared to other Academy grounds in the Netherlands, but it is highly functional and has everything a player needs. Furthermore, the level of planning for each and every detail, how the coaches interact with each other and the players, how the players approach training, the responsibility given to the players, the accountability required of the players, yet all the while the level of pure enjoyment players and coaches take in every training session is evident.”

With the knowledge gained for these trips and interactions with Feyenoord, St. Louis Scott Gallagher continues to push forward in the development arena for U.S. clubs. 

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