Goalkeepers curriculum with Harmen Kuperus

"There is still a lot of progress to be made with a different way of training"

It might just be that after Andries Noppert (2022 Qatar), someone from our municipality goes to the World Cup again. Harmen Kuperus from Sint Nicolaasga is the goalkeeper coach of the Surinamese national team under head coach Aron Winter. “After working for a club for twelve years, this is a nice new job for me. We are working towards a great goal. Suriname really has a chance to qualify for the final tournament in 2026.”

 

Harmen Kuperus was a goalkeeper coach at sc Heerenveen, KV Mechelen, OH Leuven, Go Ahead Eagles, Fortuna Sittard, and FC Groningen. “During my time as a goalkeeper, it became clear that the coaching role suited me perfectly. I spent a lot of time on the bench, usually as the second goalkeeper. That role fit me well. In fact, too well because I really enjoyed improving the first goalkeeper. Goalkeepers often performed better when I was the reserve goalkeeper.”

 

 

Training with joy

Besides his experience in professional football, Kuperus also learned a lot from his time training amateur clubs with his fellow local, Niek van der Werf. “This allowed me to gain a lot of experience in training the entire team,” he explains. As a result, he has developed a clear vision for the ideal goalkeeper training. “This training has a lot of structure and also a lot of variety. It must not become boring. Enjoying training is the most important thing because only then can players truly perform.”

 

Goalkeepers are individuals

Goalkeepers are individuals within a team. Nevertheless, training together with other players is very important in Kuperus's view: “At the beginning of the week, a goalkeeper trains individually for about 80% of the time and 20% with the team. In the middle of the week, this can shift to 60% individual and 40% with the team, and at the end of the week, with the match in sight, this ratio can go to 30/70%. It is important for a goalkeeper to get used to the defenders. Agreements need to be made. Where do the players stand at a corner or a free kick from the opponent? You can start by training the goalkeeper and the defense. Then you can expand this to seven players and then to the entire team. There is far too little attention to this in the Netherlands. There is still a lot of progress to be made with a different way of training, focused on the collaboration between the goalkeeper and defenders. But my experience is that you have to fight hard to get time for this.” “During my time as a goalkeeper coach, I developed and worked out a lot of exercises,” he continues. “I am involved with VTON, a platform with a complete youth training curriculum, set up by, among others, former Jouster goalkeeper Richard Elsinga.” VTON stands for Football Technical Development Netherlands, and because the program is also going abroad, it is now called feeton. With more than 350 affiliated amateur clubs and 12,000 registered coaches, VTON makes an important contribution to the enjoyment of football for youth in the Netherlands. “Richard is really a pioneer. Together, we have developed a continuous learning pathway for goalkeepers and created a database with exercises. All of this is supported by videos and explanations, making it easy for coaches to apply.”

 

Super talent

Currently, Harmen Kuperus is in charge of the goalkeepers of the Surinamese national team. Warner Hahn, former goalkeeper of sc Heerenveen, is the first choice. “Warner is doing very well with us,” Harmen believes. “He currently has the confidence that is so important for a goalkeeper to perform well. Joey Roggeveen is also doing very well at FC Den Bosch. We keep a close eye on him, just like the goalkeeper of Surinamese club Robinhood, Jonathan Fonkel. He is a super talent. He is only 18 years old and has already become a champion with his club. Maybe next year he can make the move to Europe. It is difficult for a player outside the EU, but it would be fantastic for him.”

 

 

Real chance 

Because major competitors the United States, Canada, and Mexico are hosting the World Cup together, these countries are already placed. Moreover, as many as 48 countries are participating. “Suriname has a real chance of qualifying for this World Cup,” Kuperus asserts. “If not now, then when? There are players who hoped to play for the Dutch national team but just missed out, who now want to play for us. These are excellent players who really give us a quality boost.”

 

Police escort

During an international period, the Surinamese team first comes together in their home country. This means that Harmen Kuperus now regularly boards a plane and flies across the ocean. “I come to places where I would not have come otherwise, such as Grenada. It is beautiful there. I have not seen whiter beaches. The goalkeepers trained wonderfully on the beach. Aron Winter was fine with it. I have also been to Cuba. Everything there was under police escort. It is very poor and dangerous. And we had no air conditioning in our hotel, but the Cuban team did. You experience all sorts of things.”

 

Tragedy

Football connects and plays an important role in the connection between the Netherlands and Suriname. Older football fans will remember the plane crash of June 7, 1989. A DC8 of airline SLM crashed near Zanderij airport, close to Paramaribo. Fourteen players and the coach of the Colourful Eleven, a team of Surinamese-Dutch football professionals, died in the crash. This tragedy left deep marks in the entire football world. Even for top players like Gullit, Rijkaard, and Winter, who were not allowed to travel to this tournament by their club, it was a traumatic experience. “Our head coach Aron Winter told me that it took a long time before the plane was cleared away. He always saw it lying there when he flew to Suriname,” Harmen says.

 

Fighting together for the country

“There is a lot of poverty in Suriname. Yet the inhabitants are happy and the people radiate warmth. For me, this feels very different from working for a club. Surinamese people do everything for their national team. Contracts or money are not issues. Representing the flag of Suriname together, fighting together for the country, that is what it is all about. It is a special experience. What would be wonderful for all the people in Suriname if their country were to qualify for the World Cup final tournament for the first time. That is what we are aiming for.”

Source: Groot de Fryskemarren