Community Connections Project – Bart Choufour

Why are you passionate about your job?

“Well that goes a long way back. I started playing soccer when I was 4 or 5 years old and first obviously I played for a long time, and then, when I was 16, I actually started to get interested in working with younger players as well, so I started working as a youth coach, and then, from there, I went to the Academy for Physical Education in Amsterdam and became a Phys. Ed. teacher and I continued coaching, and every time I step on the field I still get those chills like, (dog), I am very passionate about it, I like working with young players specifically, I’ve done a little bit of coaching with senior players, but I’ve always enjoyed working with young players more.”

What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today?

“Well, you know it’s probably everybody’s dream to be a professional player, and I played in a high level in Amsterdam and ended up getting a professional contract that didn’t make me lose my passion for the game. I continued played at a semi-professional level in Holland, and then coaching became more and more important. So, I guess the obstacle of not becoming a professional player probably helped me in my coaching career. There’s always obstacles, sometimes it takes time, you need to put in your time and gain experience and learn more. So, most of the obstacles, I have overrun (the obstacles), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any anymore, just I can’t think of any right now.”

What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you’re doing?

“I’d say start right away when you have that interest and seek out people with that experience to become a mentor, and get a combination of a little bit of standing on your own feet but also working under a good mentor, also finding different people, not just the one person, get different experiences from different people who look at it from different angles and have a different style in their coaching, so that’s how you’ll probably learn the most, because if you’re going on one track, and never look outside of that track, it’s pretty tough to learn and there’s a pretty good possibility that you become skilled at what you do, and you don’t look outside the box anymore and learn new things. Those are some of the tips that I’d give.”

What do you do in a typical day from morning to night?*

“First of all I don’t have typical days. But generally, during the week, I coach in the evening, but I also do coaching during the day, not all the time, sometimes when I help within the club or during the weekend I’m pretty busy with coaching, especially on the Sunday. Saturday is a day off, a day for family. During the day I develop a lot of curriculum for all our academy centers, I write all that am creative around that and also I develop coaching presentations for coaching education. So, there’s always things to do besides the things that I do already. So it’s very tough to say that there aren’t any typical days. I also continue to learn all the time, and I try to incorporate a lot of the reading in what I do on the field. Every day is a little different but has a lot of elements of the same.”

What are you most proud of in your career?

“The thing I’m most proud of is that I’ve developed a way of training that young players enjoy. It also makes them become better players. It’s (the system for training) very game based, it’s very excited I think, it’s the kind of thing that I was enjoying when I was a player. But, what I’m proud of most, whenever I step on the field, I always work hard to help player become a little bit better at the end of the session. Those are 2 things I am very proud of.”

What is the toughest thing you’ve had to do in your job?

“It’s probably when you meet a new group, it’s not that tough anymore for me, but when you’re a younger coach and you start with a new group that’s always tough. I had a season with the whitecaps on the 18 team several years ago, we played in the men’s league with them, and even though the boys were playing very well we lost a lot of game, about 80 to 70 percent of the games we played well. That was a tough season. So those are some good examples.”

 

 

 

Bart Choufour

For my Community Connections project, I interviewed Bart Choufour, the Academy Center Director and Head Coach for the Vancouver Whitecaps. Mr. Choufour had played at the semi-pro/top amateur level in Holland for HFC Haarlem, his home town. He has experience with youth coaching with a multitude of European clubs that have legendary youth development programs, including AFC Ajax, PSV and FC Groningen In Holland, Bayer Leverkusen in Germany’s Bundesliga. He has taken various British Colombian teams against top European teams such as FC Barcelona. He has been coaching since he was 16, and is a great coach for the Residency and Academy programs, and has a great load of experience with youth coaching and is one of the best around for it.

Bart Choufour, Academy Center Director and Head Coach

 

 

What does this mean for me?

This connects with me because I have been thinking about starting as an assistant coach for a kids team for Port Coquitlam as a hobby. Coaching kids has always been an interesting thing, not because I like working with kids, believe me when I say I’m not great with kids. The reason it’s an interesting thing is improving their game, making them better, making sure they have fun and being there to support them their whole way through the beautiful game.

Little tips here and there, some talks about improvement, and getting to go outside and play a little more during their games and practices would be very cool. During the interview, I think I learned the final piece of this whole thing, which is to help others. I would have always loved to have a more experienced player come and help during my sessions to help me get better back when I was a younger player, so helping these kids and being their mentor would mean a lot for them and for me, because this would mean coaching experience, which is always good.

 

 

 

Bibliography:

Campbell, Tim, and Wayne Glowacki. “Sep 2015: Soccer Camps Not Just for Kicks.” Winnipeg Free Press, 4 Sept. 2015, www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/soccer/soccer-camps-not-just-for-kicks-324304301.html.

“Choufour Named Pre-MLS Academy Head Coach, ‘Caps to Play in U-13 Champions League.” Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 14 June 2019, www.whitecapsfc.com/youth/post/2019/06/14/choufour-named-pre-mls-academy-head-coach-part-bmo-academy-system.

“Soccer Coaching Motivational Quotes Sayings – Coaches Training Room: Soccer Sessions: Drills: Coaching Exercises: Futsal Sessions: Futsal Drills.” Coaches Training Room | Soccer Sessions | Drills | Coaching Exercises | Futsal Sessions | Futsal Drills, 13 Dec. 2019, coachestrainingroom.com/soccer-coaching-quotes/.

Wier, Marcel Vander. “Whitecaps Coach Pays Yukon Capital a Visit.” Whitehorse Daily Star, 13 Apr. 2015, www.whitehorsestar.com/Sports/whitecaps-coach-pays-yukon-capital-a-visit.