PSV Union Football Club

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiel_Coerver Many of the worlds best clubs know and use the famous Dutchman's coaching material and have hired his personal assistants to clubs such as PSV Eindhoven and Manchester United. Team such as UNC women's team (Anson Dorrance is an advocate of Wiel Coerver), the USA women’s' team and many top USA players have worked on and continue to work on the material. Most Collegiate players have worked extensively on the material and most of the Bay Area's top youth teams have used the material for the past 20 years. There are a number of Coerver Coaching clinics in the USA which are unrelated to Wiel Coerver (the man himself)  'Coerver Coaching', of which Wiel Coerver was not directly associated with, sells licensee agreements to various coaches & orgs. These are franchised coaching clinics whereby the licensee purchases the rights to operate a clinic in their respective geographic domain/areas.  Wiel took myself and Simon Ireland under his wing and reinforced in us the importance of individual technical development. Wiel was tough but caring and had a passion second to none. Simon and I had the privilege of knowing Wiel for over 20 years. Few people had the conviction of what he was teaching in football. I recall when he described to us his disagreement with Charles Hughes from the FA over a short corner debate. Wiel wanted to take a short corner to Roderick Thomas, the phenom playing for England youth at the time- Charles Hughes insisted on the long corner. The arguement as to which was the best approach resulted in Wiel resigning as technical advisor for the FA. If they would have taken the short corner Wiel would still have remained. Such was his conviction.  His students have gone on to influence the way the game is taught on every continent over the past 25 years. Nearly every federation has incorporated his methods and his assistants have worked in many clubs across the globe. Manchester United, Porto, Liverpool and other clubs have embraced his teachings. North Carolina coach Asnon Dorrance uses Wiels material  every  day. Simon and I along with my father  introduced Wiel Coervers material to Australia in 1989. This  introduction to (at first) Les Murray from SBSTV profoundly influenced Australian soccer forever.  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 trainings and i have since incorporated them into my material.  We met Wiel one day in Manahatnville College during a summer soccer camp that Simon and I had been hired to work at. We were contemplating playing college soccer or returning to Europe to try and play or perhaps Australia so was using the camp to stay in shape and keep our touch up. We demonstrated for Wiel all the time so wanted to keep my form up and I  was humbled by what  i was being taught. I used to go into the hallway for hours working on the material and spent time in between and after every session. After working with Wiel he invited Simon and I to be his assistants in Dubai, UAE where we embarked on our first real professional coaching assignment. I had declined the scholarship offers in the USA with Simon and return to London before heading back to Australia where I helped arrange the purchase of the Coerver Philips videos (1-2-3) from SLS to SBSTV in Australia. Over the years we had been in touch. The last time we visited Wiel was when Carine and i stopped to see Wiel and his wife in their small and tidy apartment near the church at the center of small town in Holand near the German border called 'Kerkrade'. He was still at it. Still inventing and analyzing- still the purist. He was quick to present his analysis of the state of the game. Several EPL and world famous managers even called when we were there, asking his advice. He had some sore points about the game but nothing had deterred him from improving his craft and trying to help develop better and more technically gifted and creative soccer players. Sadly, Wiel recently passed away but has left an incredible legacy in global soccer. He was a consumate professional and purits. He was a man who wanted to bring beauty and artistry back into the game and help to influcene youth coaches 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. Mostly to try to achieve the highest standards coaching and demonstrating and to pass on a philosophy of the pusuit of excellence. He 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.  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 taught me an incredible amount.  Gary Ireland