In conversation with John Heitinga

It's official: Ajax has appointed John Heitinga as interim coach. Heitinga has come far: won prizes with Ajax, named Footballer of the Year, played in three major football countries, participated in five final tournaments, and with 87 caps and 7.031 playing minutes he is in the top of the Dutch players with the most international matches. MASTERS previously entered into discussions with the new trainer.

THE FIRST STEPS IN FOOTBALL

What kind of family do you come from? “A loving, warm family. We were not well off, but we were satisfied with what we had. At the weekend my sister, Natasja, and I were allowed to pick out a bottle of soda and a bag of chips and then we went to watch a movie – that was our movie night. My mother had many jobs, she provided the income. My father was mainly on the road with me: I had been with Ajax since I was seven and he always drove me from Alphen aan den Rijn to Amsterdam and back.”

What are your earliest memories? “That we always went to my grandparents in Ter Aar on the weekends. They come from Indonesia. My father was also born there, in 1957, in Jakarta. I have been there once, when I played a friendly match against Indonesia with the Dutch team. In 1958, the entire grandfather and grandmother family came to the Netherlands. My father has five brothers, so I have a big family. Everyone always gathered at my grandparents' house on weekends and holidays. My grandmother always prepared an Indian rice table on birthdays. I also remember that I always had a ball under my arm. When my parents gave me my first ball, I even went to bed with it. My ball and I were inseparable. I was just playing football. I got that from my father. He played football in the first team of ARC. He could play well, but especially when the weather was nice – he was a real fair-weather footballer. He was also a youth coach at ARC. Not from my team, but I was also allowed to train with his. I trained a lot and was on the football field all day long. And if I wasn't playing football, I was jumping in the ditch, climbing trees, romping on the ice in winter... I was always outside.”

Where did you spend the holidays? “I stayed with my grandparents for six weeks. We had no money to go abroad. Often a nephew would also come to stay. Great holidays, you know.”

What kind of student were you? “An average student, quite disciplined, not a difficult boy. I got my MAVO diploma. I think I could have reached a higher level, but I was focused on football in everything. Even as a child I knew: I wanted to become a professional footballer.”

Did you used to have idols, posters hanging above your bed? "No, not that. I do remember that the Dutch national team played a practice match against ARC on May 21, 1990, in the run-up to the World Cup in Italy (3-0 win for the Dutch team; ed.). And that I was walking around there wearing a Gullit wig.”

What were your first steps in football? “I played at ARC from 1987 to 1990. Because I stood out, my mother called Ajax. She got youth leader Henk van Teunenbroek on the phone. She admired her initiative, but said that I should really be scouted and otherwise try to get the spotlight through the talent days. 'But he can play football very well. Can't he train with us as a birthday present?' At first it was just no, no, no. But my mother is a perseverer. Finally, Mr Van Teunenbroek said: 'Well, okay, come over then.' I participated in two training sessions and then I was allowed to stay. I absolutely loved it, except now I had to go to De Meer in Amsterdam four times a week. I had school until three o'clock, training started at about five o'clock, and around Good Times, Bad Times I came home again - I sat with my plate on my lap. In the beginning I had to get used to being away from the familiar environment, from all my friends. But in the end I also quickly made friends at Ajax.”

When you were thirteen, your parents divorced. “In retrospect, that was the best thing for everyone. But at the time I hated it. Of course I wanted them to stay together. Football was my outlet. It was arranged in such a way that I was with my mother during the week and with my grandparents on the weekends. I used the Ajax bus for training and my father took me to the matches. I saw him quite a lot, because we often played during the week and at one point I was also a member of the representative youth teams of the Dutch national team.”

How did you experience Ajax's youth academy from 1990 to 2001? “Very professional and independent. At ARC you were dried off after a match by your parents, who accompanied you into the dressing room. It doesn't work that way at Ajax. You will meet your parents again in the canteen. During my youth training, Ajax was the best team in the world. In 1992 they had won the UEFA Cup, in 1995 the Champions League, in 1996 they had reached the final of the Champions League. Everywhere you went, they looked up to you.”

Who from your class made it? “From E2, where I started, only Wesley Sneijder and I made it. In principle, it is already a lot if one per team makes it. Top football is a pyramid, and the top is not for everyone. Some get there by a detour. Just look at Virgil van Dijk, he has never played for a Dutch top club. Or Quincy Promes, who was sent away from Ajax's youth academy after six years. Pablo Rosario was also found wanting. He eventually ended up at PSV via Almere City.”

What did Ajax mean to you at that time, were you a supporter? "Yes. And not just me, but the whole family. I occasionally went to a match with my father in De Meer, Vak H, or in the Olympic Stadium. I have also played preliminary matches. My grandfather was my biggest supporter. He saved every newspaper clipping I'm in. Scrapbooks full. He collected everything from me.”

How did you experience winning the Champions League in 1995? "Yes, great. I saw the match at home, in the Tolstraat. I was wearing my Ajax shirt and scarf. Fantastic! Pride! After the ceremony on Museumplein, I had the opportunity to have my picture taken with the cup. Super!"

That was in the time of Marc Overmars, Edwin van der Sar, Ronald de Boer, Michael Reiziger, Winston Bogarde... Nowadays they are your colleagues. Isn't that crazy? “Ronald is part of the Ajax O19 staff as an individual trainer. In the beginning it took some getting used to. He was one of the guys I looked up to. They had won the Champions League, they were Ajax 1.”

They are there partly because of the velvet revolution that Johan Cruijff initiated in 2010. How did you view that development at the time? “At that time I was playing at Everton, I witnessed it from a distance, I don't know exactly what was happening on the shop floor. I did meet Cruijff during that time. I was in Barcelona with my family, just away for a few days. When we were taken from the hotel to the airport, we discovered that the babysitter had forgotten our passports. Friends of ours who were in the same hotel and had a later flight immediately drove after us to bring the passports. Everyone was already on that plane, we were waiting for the Heitinga family. And who was also on that flight? Johan Cruijff. I don't know whether he heard it from the KLM crew, but when we arrived running at the gate, he was waiting for us: 'You have to be on time, Heitinga!' Coincidentally, I was also sitting next to him. He told me he was going to Amsterdam for the Velvet Revolution. I wanted to ask him all kinds of things, but mainly he did all the talking. And you're not just going to interrupt Cruijff.”

Another player from the Golden Ajax was your supervisor from the age of fifteen. What role has Sjaak Swart played in your career? “I always had a very warm relationship with him, and still do. He had my best interests at heart, shared his knowledge, and was always there for me. Don't touch my boys, that's Sjaak. He was also there for me when I was injured. Football is always about performance. When you play, you pay attention. If you are injured, you are quickly forgotten. But not because of Sjaak, you really didn't forget him. When I was recovering in Zeist, he came by. To eat a sandwich, talk to me for a moment, see how I was doing. I never saw him as an agent. Sjaak is just Sjaak.”

And you would experience Ruud Krol as assistant coach to Ronald Koeman. What have you learned from him as a defender? “I have seen many black and white images of the Golden Ajax. Krol was extremely tough and very good at insightful defense – how should you stand? That's what we talked about. With his input, Koeman made me captain of Ajax at the age of 21. Krol helped me a lot at the beginning of my career.”

AJAX (2001 – 2008)

At the age of seventeen, on August 26, 2001, you made your debut in Ajax 1 against Feyenoord. A year before you were still a ball boy... “During a youth tournament in Toulon, I received a fax from Ajax in the players' hotel stating that I would be a first-team player in the 2001-2002 season. That summer, under the leadership of national coach Louis van Gaal, I played the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina, where we reached the quarter-finals. I was there throughout the preparation for the new season. Suddenly I was playing with boys like Richard Witschge, Cristian Chivu, Nikos Machlas... While in youth it was still about development, now you had to perform. And instead of a few hundred people, there were 50.000 people in the stands. For the match against Feyenoord, round three, I was in the selection. In the 68e minute, Hatem Trabelsi received a red card. Just before that I had gotten new shoes for André Bergdolmo from the dressing room, because a stud had broken off. I was just taking my place in the dug-out again when Co Adriaanse said: 'Warming up.' I walked back and forth three times, then I got into it. A full Kuip, you couldn't wish for a better debut. Discharge, tension: I felt everything at the same time. For the first action I got yellow, when I gave Pierre van Hooijdonk a peek. We won 2-1. And even in the years that followed, I would never lose to Feyenoord.”

What changed for you since that day? “My status. Suddenly I was in the spotlight, my name was mentioned in the newspaper, on television, in the football magazines. But I soon disappeared from the spotlight again: I got injured. That happened during the warm-up before the match against NAC on November 18. I spun away and twisted my right knee. It turned out to be a meniscus injury. I underwent surgery at the VU. That didn't go very well, because I contracted a bacterial infection. Three months later I had to go under the knife again, this time in the AMC. My knee had already suffered quite a bit of damage. I was never able to fully straighten and bend it again. After another three months of rehabilitation, I made my return on August 29, 2002, at home against - again - NAC. At half time I came on for Cristian Chivu. Around 80e minute: an attack by NAC on the sideline. I make a slide. I actually have to step in with my right leg, but I do that with my other leg. The opponent hits my knee. I knew immediately: this is not good. Still, I finished the match – I didn't want to believe that I was injured again. When I got to the dressing room, my knee was already full of fluid. And I saw the doctor, Edwin Goedhart, shaking his head. I first cried a lot together with Rafael van der Vaart. The next day confirmation came: the anterior cruciate ligament in my left knee had torn.”

Did you have to go under the knife again... “I chose to have surgery in Colorado by specialist Richard Steadman. He has operated on almost all major athletes who have torn their anterior cruciate ligament, including Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooij and Giovanni van Bronckhorst. After the operation, the long rehabilitation process began: it took six months. I consciously chose to do that in Zeist. If you do that at the club, you come into an environment where everyone is happy and having fun with each other. While I had to do my thing alone. At least in Zeist I was with fellow sufferers: John Nieuwenburg, Ebi Smolarek…”

Every disadvantage has it's advantage. Needs a period of rehabilitation also? “Yes, it makes you mentally stronger. And I was introduced to strength training for the first time. Today's boys are much further along in this regard. In Zeist I mainly spent time in the weight room. Working with those devices every day has increased my physical strength and explosiveness. For example, I have improved my starting speed. And I worked on my weak leg – left-handed passes were much cleaner now. I have not only rehabilitated to get fit, but also to become a more complete footballer.”

How did you fight your way back into the sport after fifteen months of injuries? first? “That was still an uncertain period. To start with, I had doubts about whether I was suitable for top sport. In addition, Ajax was doing well - it had a functioning center and reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. When I came back, there was room for me in the selection, but I didn't get around to playing. I indicated to Koeman that it might be best for everyone if I were rented out for a year. I had already more or less agreed with Vitesse. During the week I would play a charity match in Sweden, and then report to Arnhem two days later. But I played so well that match that Koeman said: 'You are not leaving at all.' From that moment on I was a starter. And shortly afterwards, on February 18, 2004, four months after returning from my rehabilitation, I made my debut for the Dutch national team during a practice match against the US (1-0 win; ed.). That year I played everything else. We became champions of the Netherlands.”

As you said, you can no longer fully extend your right leg bow. How were you able to practice top sport? "Good question. For football I just got away with it, I think. But I have sometimes wondered where I would have ended up if I had not had those injuries to my knees. I skipped teams during the entire youth academy, and at the age of seventeen I made my debut in Ajax 1. But from the age of eighteen my knees no longer functioned 100 percent.”

How did you pass all the medical examinations? “I have sometimes seen doctors and physiotherapists think: what is this on the treatment table? But the fact is that since those three operations I have hardly missed any training or competition and have never been injured again. That must have played a role. And I almost always made my transfer on the last transfer day. The clubs did not have much time left to attract another player.”

This article is from MASTERS MAGAZINE #42.