Raymond Verheijen's India visit - renowned coach to teach footballers a language that their bodies will listen

Frank Rijkaard, Rudd Gullit, Ronald Koeman and Johan Neeskens are some of the students that have passed through his conditional matrix. He also has a distinction of working along with his illustrious countrymen, Guus Hiddink, Dick Advocaat and Louis van Gaal.

Raymond Verheijen, one of the world's best-known conditional coaches, is not just an additional support, but his methodology is an impetus to propel professional footballers to perform and take their game to the elite level. He was part of the Euro 2000 Dutch contingent that made it into the semi-finals. Besides South Korea, who benefited from expertise in 2002 World Cup, Verheijen has worked with the Russian and Argentine World Cup squads as well. At the club level, he has dispensed his most sought after footballing wisdom at Manchester City, Zenit St Petersburg, Chelsea, Rangers and even Barcelona.

Verheijen's gaze transcends the physical aspect of football – he considers it as a state of the mind. His tackling the game at the language level involving intrinsic psychology and holistic philosophy might remind one of Johan Cruyff.

If that does not shake you, his three-day WFA Football Periodisation Course to be held this September between 22-24 at American School of Bombay certainly will.

The nub of Verheijen's endeavor is its targeted delivery. Whatever he does – at the epicenter, at all times, resides an agenda that purports him to innovate and that is football.

There are many condition coaches who propagate the body-aspect only generically and thereby in reality operate by staying outside the system. Apparently, they may be thought to provide a solution but they end up amidst more confusion than the desired verb.

Conditioning a body is not an isolated parameter – one has to thoroughly understand the underlying circumstances what a body is being conditioned for. This then not only includes fitness to carry out a ninety-minutes game but lessons of avoiding possible injuries and most importantly pre-gearing the body to recover from injuries that may occur. And none is nonparallel than Verheijen in understanding the inner working of the body belonging to a top-flight footballer and extrapolating the same to the rigmarole on the pitch.

Ironically, it was an injury at the ripe age of 18 that forced Raymond to change tracks. In order to excavate the completeness of a soccer being he crossed the body with the mind and got himself a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology and Sports Psychology. A book, ‘Conditioning for Soccer’, followed the implication of which saw it being adopted as the official coaching guide by the Dutch FA in 1997. It was a year later, when he became a Pro Licence instructor with the KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association), that he had in his roster names – the likes of Rijkaard, Koeman, Gullit, and Neeskens, that would find a regular mention in the contemporary headlines.

Verheijen with the Wales national team

Though this particular course may leave out ‘Football Braining’ - a football-specific psychological approach which was propounded by Verheijen in conjunction with several other national and international experts who had developed it over a period of about four years, any participant will at least get to pick the brain that materialized this path breaking approach.

The key aspect of this treatise is to control one's thoughts in uncomfortable situations, therefore not letting it be converted into regrettable actions be it directed at the opponent, referee or the media. Football, especially nowadays, doesn’t stop at the pitch; it lives a vicious life off it with gusto. Trust Verheijen to know the repercussions of tragic guffaws.

This is Verheijen's second visit to India and in his last workshop in 2013, his active radar must have picked up India specific on-off ground football issues. He will certainly be more prepared. And if that interaction is anything to go by, Verheijen will not wrap vacuous inanities in tectonic terminologies. Simple ideas proposed simply are his game – the one which he plays only too well, perhaps being the only one to lord the field. His actionable teachings had prompted Oscar Bruzon, then coach of Sporting Clube de Goa, to do a 4 vs 4 and 8 vs 8 training to improve his squads' action per minute.

Now lest you think that Raymond will only be repeating, he had once said, “As a coach, you need to be a role model. You need to be dynamic. Take a decision on its merit and not by being presumptuous and predetermined.” Coaches like him don't stagnate - four years is too long for him to sit in one place.

Shaji Prabhakaran, Senior Consultant of the Asian Football Confederation, welcomed Verheijen's advent by remarking, "Glad that Raymond is coming to Mumbai to conduct fitness workshop. His experience and expertise will be of great value to participants attending this workshop." There are only a few days to go and it won't be too long before the earmarked forty spots will be taken.

With India hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup and various football leagues bent upon importing choicest overseas players, it’s perhaps time that this sub-continent is privy to the latest in the trans-Atlantic machinations.

For people interested in attending this special workshop, you can get in touch with [email protected] for more deta