John Huisman will be head coach for the selection of the football club SV CHC in his own Den Bosch next season. Although he is already 75, he never stops. “My heart almost stopped twice. That is why I realize that I just have to keep doing what I like best.”
John worked at numerous clubs and won several major prizes. “I remember when we won at VVV with Gemert. On the way back NOS Langs de Lijn wanted to call me, but I had no reception. I got off the bus for a moment, but then the driver drove off. That was a big sprint of at least a hundred meters. It turned out that the players had done that for fun.”
“I’m not the type to watch television at home on the couch.”
BVV Den Bosch has always been his club. At this association, he and his twin brother took their first steps on the football field. “I played there for a long time and was head coach for thirteen years. It’s also the only club I’ve ever been fired from. Yet I remain a BVV member and I am still a member.”
After his discharge, John lost the fun and stopped as a trainer. “But it soon started to itch. I’m not the type to watch television at home on the couch. Soccer is my life. They sometimes call me Dick Advocaat because I am still a trainer at an advanced age, but the difference is that I will no longer say that I am quitting.”
“As a trainer I want to continue to develop.”
Even when he had health problems, he couldn’t get off the field. “A large vein in my stomach had burst and I was in intensive care for a day. They placed two stents, but a few years later they were found to be leaking. I was completely cut open and a new vein was placed,” says John.
“I had to stay in hospital for two weeks, but I was home within six days. You can sit in sackcloth and ashes, but I just quickly went back to doing what I like best, which is training.”
After 50 years as head coach and 24 years as a teacher at the KNVB, John is not going to slow down. “I am a football animal and watch everything. Every morning I sit in the stands at FC Den Bosch. I remain interested in new exercise material. As a trainer I want to continue to develop.”
“Can’t you plan your vacation out of season?”
John thinks the current generation of football players is different than before. “I think you let your team down if you miss a game for a holiday, but they all do it these days. You play 26 matches a year, can’t you plan something for the other half of the year? I realize that as a trainer I have to keep up with the times. But that doesn’t mean I just accept it all.”