Michael Dingsdag has completed his first week as trainer of Jong FC Volendam and is having a good time. “Those guys are lucky and unlucky that I have already experienced everything myself. Lucky, because I can let them take the last step. Bad luck, because I know all possible excuses.”
Before his transfer, Dingsdag worked as an assistant coach at Telstar and head coach at Telstar 0-21. He had already decided to leave in November. “The first always trained in the morning or afternoon and the U21 only in the evening. Then I made such long days, I didn’t feel like it anymore.”
The deal with Volendam was therefore quickly closed. “My agent put me in touch with the club. Because of my previous experience at NAC and Telstar as a trainer of a team of promises, I was interesting. We were out within a few days.”
‘No division of roles’
When the Amsterdammer was appointed, it was also announced that Regilio Simons is his assistant. “We don’t have a division of roles,” responds Dingsdag firmly. “Everyone on the staff has the same goal; to help those guys as much as possible. I’m more of the ‘we-feeling’. Of course I’m the head coach and I will make the line-up, but we all do it together.”
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Dispensation
Next season Jong FC Volendam will play in the 0-21 competition for the first time, after the relegation from the second division. A big difference with that competition is that football players up to and including 23 years old were allowed to play in the second division. “Fortunately, few players fall between the cracks. There are currently two and it makes a difference that we are allowed to line up three dispensation players. We can even line up up to 25 years with the keeper.”
“We have not yet set any goals for next season,” says Dingsdag. “Soon we will sit down with all the players to agree on individual goals. We have a young team, but it is nice that five or six guys can already show themselves at Matthias Kohler in pre-season. The individual development of the players will be the most important.”
The new season starts for Jong Volendam in the weekend of September 2 with an away match against SC Cambuur. A week later, Michael Dingsdag’s team plays against De Graafschap in-house.