Raymond Atteveld is a retired professional soccer player, enjoying a long career at stops such as Everton, West Ham and Bristol City in the UK, along with Haarlem, Vitesse and FC Groningen in Holland. He began his coaching journey as an assistant coach at ADO Den Haag, and has since enjoyed head coaching roles in Holland, Cyprus and Israel. He has also spent time as an Academy Director, Technical Director and Performance Director at various clubs, and has been influenced by mentors such as Johann Cruyff, Louis Van Gaal, and many others top coaches.

In our conversation today, we discuss his coaching and playing influences, his passion for integrating young players into the first team of professional clubs, and the importance of authenticity in coaching. Atteveld is a coach who has played and coached at the highest level and his insights into the player/coach relationship are fascinating.

This week's podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sprocket Sports. Sprocket Sports is a new software platform for youth sports clubs.  Yeah, there are a lot of these systems out there, but Sprocket provides the full enchilada. They give you all the cool front-end stuff to make your club look good– like websites and marketing tools – AND all the back-end transactions and services to run your business better so you can focus on what really matters – your players and your teams.

Sprocket is built for those clubs looking to thrive, not just survive, in the competitive world of youth sports clubs.  So if you've been looking for a true business partner – not just another app - check them out today at sprocketsports.com.

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