Trainer with his own style
Dennis is a professional keepers’ trainer who has fully devoted himself to the goalkeeping profession in the last 10 years. “With Drijver Goalie Academy, I work on goalkeeping for the whole week. As a fan, there is of course nothing better!”
From forward to keeper
His father was a football keeper, and his mother a hockey goalie. Yet Dennis began in youth teams as a forward. Until the day he had to take his turn in goal, and he was smitten, despite the 9-0 defeat… Dennis was a keeper for, among other teams, HDM Men’s 1 and Pinoké Men’s 1, for whom he played three years in the Hoofdklasse, the top division in the Netherlands.
Own style
During his study in Delft, Dennis discovered a new passion: giving keepers’ training. “By working with and training with a number of top keepers’ trainers, I developed my own style”, explains Dennis. His most important mentor? That was Martijn Drijver. Nowadays, Dennis and Martijn together run the complete hockey programme of the Drijver Goalie Academy and the Sportways-Drijver Goalie Camps & Clinics.
International experience
At the KNHB (Royal Netherlands Hockey Association), Dennis gives keepers’ training to all national youth teams. Alongside this he regularly delivered training abroad. For example, he got Pakistan’s national team’s goalkeepers ready for the Champions Trophy in 2018, and he works with the keepers in Canada’s national women’s eleven. And in 2017 he coached in Changzhou in China, training keepers from the provincial hockey team for the China Games.
Personal Lifestyle Coach
Dennis trains goalies from young to old. Keepers in youth teams in the Netherlands and Belgium, but also top senior teams. Alongside this, he has become a Personal Lifestyle Coach. In this role he coaches people in behaviour, diet, training, recovery and fitness.