Wim van den Heuvel passed away last night in his hometown of Emmen. He was a well-known amateur football coach who worked at VV Emmen, Germanicus, Valthermond, SVBO and Nieuw-Buinen. Van den Heuvel, who was seriously ill, turned 83.
‘A unique person’, Valthermond secretary Arie Weits described his former trainer in a column a few years ago. Weits, as a youngster, broke through under the coach in the main squad of the blue and white and was kicked out of the first team by the same man years later, at the age of 35. Van den Heuvel became an honorary member of the club after he left the Valthermond. He was head coach there for 20 years in a row.
Wim van den Heuvel grew up in Dordrecht and started his football career with the Geluksvogels, where he played in the first team at the age of fifteen – together with his father. He then made the switch to DFC from Dordrecht to then play for EBOH (also from Dordrecht).
At the age of 23, Van den Heuvel moved to Drenthe because of his work, where his coaching career also started. First as a player/youth trainer at VV Emmen, but then as head coach at VV Emmen (five years), Germanicus (eight years), Valthermond (20 years), SVBO (2 years) and a year at Nieuw Buinen where he worked with Albert Koops. formed a coaching duo. He then returned to Germanicus where he became a youth coordinator.