professional experience

francis de vries

Founder & Lead Coach of HeadStart

After having played over 100 professional football games in Europe and North America, as well as represented my country as an All White, I have come to appreciate the importance of building football skill with mental strength for increasing performance on the field and improving well-being off the field.

Developing mental strength through specific training methods has helped me to overcome many challenges in my career, from the high pressure situations you face when playing international football to the insecurity the comes with earning professional contracts.

While training my mindset has helped immensely in my performance on the football field, they have grown something even more valuable in me. It has allowed me to find confidence in myself, given me more resilience, and helped me to treat other people better.

In doing so, developing my mindset has greatly improved the quality of all areas of my life.

Now, my passion is to support you with this same process, so that you can fulfil your potential, find success, and "be greater"!

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passing on the lessons

HeadStart was created to help all young athletes "be greater":

"Being greater" means developing skills for success in all areas of your life. It means learning how to take more responsibility for achieving your goals, showing gratitude to others, taking initiative to do extra, and showing accountability for your actions.

HeadStart combines football and mindset training to teach athletes these skills:

We believe football training should be much more than just "kicking a ball better". We use football as a teacher to give athletes immediate and impactful feedback on how they can use their minds to "be greater", both on and off the field.

HeadStart creates a lasting impact by building stronger bodies & minds:

Despite more awareness on the importance of developing a stronger mindset for improving well-being and increasing performance in recent years, the knowledge, strategies & tools which help young athletes in attain this are not readily accessible for most. Our custom made training programs grow confidence, resilience & motivation in young athletes so that they can sustainably create these skills for success.

HeadStart develops young athletes into:

People who represent themselves, their team & their community with pride and are role models to others.