🇳🇱⚽ Getting to know Dutch footballer Glenn van Geldorp
"Growing up with brothers increased my competitiveness as a footballer"
Van Geldorp was born 27 years ago in Haarlem, capital of the province of North Holland, situated 20km west of Amsterdam. This is where he grew up with two siblings - an older and younger brother. "I've got two siblings, one older and one younger brother. Their age difference is two years. Growing up with them with only boys in the house was good, as you can imagine there was a lot of competition, so it helps you as a football player as well I guess."
No two footballers have the same story but it's quite interesting to hear how his life as an aspiring player kickstarted and one can guess that the motivation came from growing up in a household that had boys and that competitive spirit was bound to kick in at some time. Looking back at growing up in Haarlem, a city that seems to be boasting with life and culture, almost a gem that is waiting to be discovered and Van Geldorp speaks very fondly of the place that started it all for him: "I think in Haarlem, in particular, it has great surroundings to grow up in seeing as there's a good support system for studying and everything. And especially for playing football, academies and everything to assist you with your development."
As we all know behind every star athletes, there are parents behind the scenes and it's not all who are very fond of the idea of being a sportsperson and actually developing a sustainable career from it and understandably so. The 27-year-old central midfielder is no different when it comes to this but he believes that his parents always supported his career choice despite having a few things to say about it prior to that - it actually gets interesting when his parents initially signed him up into an academy to develop his football further.
"Both of them (parents) really supported it. They were the ones that signed me up at the academy because they wanted me to do a sport. So I really grew into it and they basically watched every match I played over the weekends.
"They didn't miss a single one I believe. Especially my mom, my dad had to work late sometimes, but they really supported me all the way through just until I started to study and play abroad.
"My dad said 'go for it, you should do it' but my mom was like 'No, we don't want you to go away from home that far' but she would still, support me through everything."
So where did it really start for him as a footballer that he figured 'Hey, maybe this could be something I could do and possibly get something out of it while showcasing my passion': "I only started out at my local club, which is a very small club. I only played there for a few years until Ajax Amsterdam eventually noticed me. Ajax is obviously the biggest and one of the best academies in the world still for producing young players. They saw me playing at Haarlem and I moved on from there to Telstar which is a Dutch second league team.
He further added that this is where it basically kickstarted his career and he was about to take off as a proper professional footballer: "That's where I started to realise that I can become a pro in some way and eventually when I was released from them at the age of 19 I went to the next club where most of it was paid in hard cash, because they were just starting to build their team. Then they eventually went bankrupt and I stopped playing for a while. I eventually got an invitation from a friend to go to Thailand and play over there. That's where I signed and spent the rest of my career basically."
Despite the hurdles, he experienced like every footballer experiences in their career sometimes, Van Geldorp wasn't going to be deterred from pursuing his career further - some could have easily called time on their career and understandably so.
So he basically moves to Thailand and that's another continent, surely that's something he wasn't expecting to do or perhaps it was going to be one of life's adventures and he was just going to make something of it as he had previously done. This is where the opportunity to play in the United States of America comes through and he was to be off again.
"I had a step up to the US for one season where I played for the Daytona Dutch Lions FC in 2016, but it wasn't really what I was expecting and the level of football was really disappointing.
"I got bumped to being captain of the team after only two weeks of playing, something which would never happen in Holland."
That is rather strange for a player who is still fairly new on the circuit and still trying to adapt to the environment and boom, he miraculously finds himself being handed the captain's armband and he had a whole new responsibility at his new club.
However still despite all that happening at Daytona Lions, there had to surely be some vast differences between the league in the States and that of the Netherlands where he started and what he is most familiar with.
"The US is purely physical, whereas possession of the ball means everything in the Netherlands. Teams in the Netherlands enjoy passing the ball around, switching players as quickly as possible. Keeping possession of the ball. The guys in the US are very strong and fit, and some of them technically good also, but not technically that good overall," he said.
In the interview, we backtrack to the Netherlands and where he experienced his best football as a player: I think at a young age probably at a second league club called Telstar, because of the team itself. A lot of guys my age 18 or 19 years old. And a lot of my teammates ended up going to higher league clubs. Although I got released there it was a really good season for me but I think I learnt the most at the Academy of Haarlem.
Upon leaving the club, Van Geldorp had a feeling that perhaps this, being football was not for him and it was time for him to move on and who blame him when he experienced some of the best times as an aspiring footballer - where he basically learned the tricks of the trade.
"At first I felt there was nothing left after that, obviously being stalled at Haarlem and then the small step down to Telstar did make me think 'ok this is not for me then I guess'. I was very fortunate that my friend got invited to a trial in Thailand so I went along."
Now we fast forward to his life in Thailand and he felt when he got there because this was going to be something different he would experience as a player despite having previously visited the Asian country. "I've been there on holiday before so I knew what it looked like. Playing there, the experience was amazing.
"The people there are mostly Buddhist, so the day before an away game the team would visit a Buddhist temple and pray together.
"They have a lot of respect for the elderly or older people and they would find it strange if I said something back to the coach, but they would understand and the coach wouldn't necessarily get upset. It was definitely something I had to get used to and the weather also seeing as it's 32 - 33 degrees Celcius on average throughout the year."
On adapting to the style of play from what he was used to, back home in the Netherlands: "There style of football is very high paced, the guys there are very fit and speedy. And they also like to play very fast in the same manner, but they couldn't really keep it up for the full 90 minutes.
"They became fatigued between the 70th - 90th minute, so we worked on them not having to play at full pace all the time, but it's in their nature to play that way. But they're very flexible players and very speedy. When we did footwork drills I used to be last on everything.
"The first two months I had to get used to the weather, and seeing as I'm Dutch they're only allowed to have 3 foreigners per team in Thailand. They would usually take players that would work well in crucial positions for them. I play on midfield and a typical Dutch passing game and I'm physically
stronger than them due to the size difference. And I held the ball a little longer in midfield and I'm not scared to talk in the team so that's where I took the lead in delegating with the team," Van Geldorp told The L.A Dosage.
Now it gets very interesting for the Dutch-born player who all of a sudden does what one could a call a 360 degrees on his career and he goes from a professional footballer to playing futsal. That was quite some transition surely.
"That was when I stopped playing at Telstar, I and a team of friends started playing in an under 19's league at the highest level. The first time we went to Thailand for trial with my friend they said they wanted to sign us both, but luckily one guy that was watching me play got my contact details from my agent and he knew that I played futsal at a high level in Holland. And Thailand is 12th in the world when it comes to futsal and I didn't know that at the time. At that time I had just finished my 3rd year of University so I decided to go to Thailand and join the futsal league for approximately a year.
"He provided me with accommodation etc. I struggled a lot seeing as their technical level was exemplary. Communication was difficult seeing as he didn't speak any English, so there was a white manager there who translated everything he said. But I stayed there for the season and then I got injured for about 7 months. That's when I decided I would love to move back to football, then I ended up for playing for the manager's other team for 2 years, after which I moved to the USA for a year and then back to Thailand.
So what are the vast differences between football and futsal: "With futsal, it's basically indoor, hard floor, 5 on 5 teams - very fast-paced game. You can keep stopping and the ball size is one size down from football.
"The time stops each time the ball goes out and there is a foul. There is a time limit of 40 minutes per half and the goals are a little smaller and it's really big in countries like Spain, Brazil, Argentina etc. But it's smaller in England or Germany for instance.
He said: You'd be surprised which countries are in the top 10 in the world, countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran etc. Japan and Thailand are also in the top 15. Those are the basic differences between football and futsal."
So how does the central midfielder manage to stay fit as every footballer has their own regime in how they keep up their fitness that goes beyond the training they do with their respective clubs: " I normally train with the team daily. Sometimes twice a day pre-season or once a day during the season.
"Off-season when I'm not training with the team I still get some training in the gym by doing strength training etc seeing as it strengthens your central nervous system. Off-season you can go on holiday and relax as well, but still focus on your training regime," as told to The L.A Dosage.
One interesting aspect of the interview as it progressed was the 'side hustle' that Van Geldorp has apart from his career as a footballer and it is very amicable to see pursue a business that is very much in tune with what he does every other day and that is what he calls, Gravity Grip.
"It (Gravity Grip) started in Thailand where it gets really hot, which meant I was slipping in my shoes a lot which meant my feet ended up covered in blisters so I was googling solutions online and how I could prevent that from happening.
"Then I thought of the idea of doing something for myself and I got in contact with loads of companies, but when I got to the USA I started using the socks I used for myself and my teammates wanted to order some. So that's where the entire idea came from and I kept working on it.
"The socks are manufactured in China seeing as the quality is very good and their pricing is very competitive. And they did the best job at manufacturing also, some of the materials come from Japan but China is where the production takes place.
He said: "I've been doing it mostly on my own, however, a friend of mine from Russia is getting involved seeing as he's always been interested in football and was looking for something different to do. Also, a member of the Singapore national football team tried on the socks from a store in Thailand and he really liked them after trying them on, so he's one of our partners in Singapore and the same with a player from Indonesia. I'm also going into partnership in Mexico and some potential partnerships in Belgium.
The L.A Dosage further asked about the marketing and social media aspect of Gravity Grip and how he keeps that going as that is a workload on its own: "I handle all of it myself because I'm still learning about it and enjoy that aspect of the business. I don't enjoy answering e-mails and
messaging. I outsourced that to some guy from the Philippines who assists me.
On the main clients who have made use of his product and surely it would be footballers - it would make sense
"I think it was the Argentinian national team. Some members from that team that uses it and on club level it's Achraf Hakimi from Borussia Dortmund. He's on loan from Real Madrid and he's loving the product. We even did a video with him some months ago. But lately, we've been selling out so much over the last 6 months, that I can't replenish the stock based on the number of players buying them. But the start of the new season we'll be a bit better prepared," as told to The L.A Dosage.
As the good old saying goes, good things come to an end sometimes and a footballer would eventually hang up their boots and say goodbye to a career that had moulded them as a person. How long does the 27-year-old see himself playing for?
"I've been thinking about this recently, but I always say to myself you can play to say 33 or 34 and then your mind wants to do things your body cannot. But at least I can be an entrepreneur for the next 30 or 40 years if I wanted to. So I'll probably play for another 6 years, doesn't matter at what level until my body doesn't feel it can keep up anymore.
Before the interview came to a close, we asked for some advice for professional footballers who aspire to go into entrepreneurship after they have retired from the game and look to transition back to the normal day-to-day life.
Chris David from Cape Town City training with Glenn Geldorp feat Gravity socks (Two Rivers Sports)
Glenn said: "For young footballers that haven't made it yet or are trying to make it I would say basically do what you feel like doing, but don't underestimate the amount of work you have to put in. There's a lot of players that have the talent but don't have the love for the game. And you have to keep enjoying it. And if you're good enough you'll make it. Keep working and the results will come.
"If you want to get into entrepreneurship, don't think it's easy because it isn't. Make sure you have a
role model or coach to support you. And if you don't have a lot of money you'll start from the bottom and learn along the way.
" These days I make videos daily to help me to more clearly articulate myself and make my stories clearer," Van Geldorp said in conclusion.
Comments
Post a Comment