After a mentally and physically debilitating period, Adrie Poldervaart is back in his element at Fortuna Sittard as assistant to head coach Danny Buijs: „If a player does something wrong, I don’t think: I have been seriously ill, what am I worrying about? If I don’t care about anything anymore, I shouldn’t be here.”
Satisfying. This is how Adrie Poldervaart describes the feeling that takes hold of him when he sets foot on the training field again at the beginning of this month as an assistant to Danny Buijs. Shortly before, Fortuna’s new trainer made a call to Hellevoetsluis: whether his former right hand at FC Groningen is hungry for a reunion. Poldervaart and Buijs worked together from 2019 to 2021 at the Pride of the North.
“I didn’t have to think long about it. We had a great time in Groningen. Of course there were not five clubs waiting for me and I could go back to work in the premier league. The confidence that Américo Branco (technical manager, ed.) and Ivo Pfennings (managing director, ed.) subsequently expressed in me gave me a huge boost.”
That boost is much needed after five inky black months. The failed adventure at De Graafschap and his early departure there leaves deep mental marks. Linked to the illness that affected him at the beginning of this year, the first period of 2023 is one that does not make you happy.
Tingling
Back to February. After Poldervaart had not felt well the days before, he reported to the club after having slept badly due to shoulder complaints. “I said: something is wrong with me guys. I felt tingling in my tongue, buttocks, fingers and feet. In the afternoon the club doctor examined me. We both thought of Guillain Barré.”
Since the complaints persist, the trainer visits his general practitioner a few days later. He immediately sends him to the hospital. There too, the first tentative diagnosis is Guillain Barré. A disease in which the muscles relax quickly due to a disorder of the nervous system and, in the worst case, can lead to permanent paralysis (in 10 percent of cases) or even death (2 percent).
“Since I had a slightly different picture than most people with Guillain Barré, it was decided to do a scan of my brain to rule out anything else. Then you know that it can also be wrong. Still, I had zero concerns. I was only afraid of my surroundings, especially my 87-year-old mother, my family and my friends. If a child is seriously ill, mothers are not exactly better off. That’s why I didn’t always tell her everything. I myself was immediately focused on my recovery, I was convinced that I was among the 48 percent who cycle through it well.”
‘It must be granted to you’
“The only ‘fair’ thing about illness is that it doesn’t discriminate. Known or unknown, poor or rich, old or young, handsome or ugly; a disease takes you. And then you have to be allowed to get through it well. My behavior over the past 52 years has certainly had a positive effect on my recovery. I haven’t smoked or drunk, I haven’t had any consumption and I’m not overweight. But people with cancer who don’t survive have fought just as hard as those who do. That’s why I say: it should be granted to you. I am grateful that it was given to me to recover.”
Poldervaart has been in hospital for more than two weeks. The willpower and conviction to make a full recovery constantly intersect with the exasperation that ‘we only have 27 goddamn points’. “You cannot lie on the bed and think: now football is not important, figure it out. All in all it was not pleasant. I couldn’t sleep at night because of the pain. I stumbled at night as a 52-year-old with a diaper behind the walker through the corridors of the hospital. Of course that hurt, but it was the reality. When I could walk better behind the walker, I collected the mail for the elderly in the department and then read it. That way I had already started my therapy.”
Contract terminated prematurely
After the South Hollander has been released from the hospital, rehabilitation begins. First more than a month on his own at home, where his medical background as a physiotherapist comes in handy. Then in a clinic. “As the rehabilitation process progressed and I was able to drive again, I went to the club once a week and attended the games to prepare for the new season. I had already made that preparation and discussed it with my staff.”
At De Graafschap they think differently about that. Because of the ‘private situation of the coach combined with a view to the sporting future’, the first divisionist decides to terminate the contract early in May. The main character does not want to say anything about it, except that the announcement hits hard. “I was disappointed that it didn’t turn out the way I expected and hoped. It is extremely disappointing for the supporters, De Graafschap and myself that we failed.”
Balm for a wounded soul
The phone call from Buijs and the uplifting conversations with the Fortuna top then felt like balm for the wounded soul. Much progress was made in May and June. The neurologist and company doctor give the green light by declaring the coach 100 percent fit for work. And so a grateful Poldervaart enters the training field on July 1. Whistle around the neck, two balls under the arms. Loud coaching and steering. With a reprimand here and a joke there; an arm around the shoulder with one, a kick in the ass with the other. He has lost none of his fanaticism and enthusiasm.
The grueling period has not opened the door to a different view of life. “Because of what happened to me, I will not suddenly put things into perspective. If we play badly, I can still get mad about it. If a player does something wrong, I don’t think: I’ve been seriously ill, why am I worrying? If I don’t care about anything anymore, I shouldn’t be here.”
After a year in which Fortuna did not make a good impression from an image-technical perspective due to all kinds of vicissitudes, a wind of Dutch sobriety is blowing over the fields in Buchten again. “I cannot and do not want to judge last season, because I was not there. I can say what we want to see from the players: you get a good salary here, then it is your duty to show normal behavior and do your very best. Then it doesn’t even matter if you are eighth or twelfth. We are looking for the connection with the supporters, because we really need each other.”