The Kitchen Champion Division has been used as a nursery for national and international talents for decades and this season too, many football players with potential are walking around on the second level. Voetbalzone, the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division, highlights one of these talents every week, this time focusing on Jip Molenaar, who, after being a striker all his life, is now breaking through in professional football as a center defender at Telstar.
By Chris Meijer
Yippie! Why don’t you ever head in a ball? Are you two meters?, it echoes through the reception hall of the BUKO Stadium. Jip Molenaar (20) smiles and nods, as a token of recognition. “Offensive headers, man. It really needs to get better,” he says later. “I am two meters. They say it often and they are right. With my height I should be good for at least five goals per season. Of course I’m being watched more and they put the biggest one against me. But yes, you stand out more as a center defender if you head three to five in a season. That’s a weapon. I try to work with it.”
Until just over a year ago, scoring goals was Molenaar’s primary task. He went through the youth academy of FC Volendam as a striker. “It was kind of a theme all my life. People used to say, ‘Don’t you want to try it in the back?’ I thought scoring goals was too much fun and playing up front was a bit cooler, I always said playing in the back didn’t seem right to me,” says Molenaar. ‘No’ was also his first reaction when Team Jonk also suggested turning him into a center defender in the summer of 2019. “But two weeks later I came back from that. Until Eintracht Frankfurt came, I took that as a sign that I shouldn’t do it yet. I put it out of my mind during my time in Germany.”
Molenaar played for three quarters of a year in the Under-19 of Eintracht Frankfurt, until the corona pandemic paralyzed football worldwide. A direct consequence of this was that the German club’s plan to start with a second team did not go through. Because the step from the Under-19 – in which he provided six goals and two assists in 19 official games – to the first team of Eintracht Frankfurt was too big, he returned during the first lockdown back in the Netherlands. “I started thinking about that a little bit. The trainer of Jong Volendam (Johan Plat, ed.) meanwhile came to my father to ask if I wanted to come and train there as a defender. I had been sitting at home for a while and thought: you know what? I’m just going to try, there’s no competition anyway. After a number of training sessions and practice matches, there was enthusiasm from both sides, so I started doing it. I am very grateful to Volendam for that. I doubt I would have done otherwise. In any case, the chance would have been a lot smaller.”
‘Matthijs and I sometimes joke that we will play against each other’
Voetbalzone spoke to Jip Molenaar two years ago before he made the switch to Eintracht Frankfurt.
It had been in his destiny for a while that Molenaar had to become a defender. “It ran like a red thread through my life and this felt like the perfect moment to do it”, smiles Molenaar. Father Keje played a large part of his career as a right back for FC Volendam, Ajax and Feyenoord, while sister AnneKee has a relationship with Matthijs de Ligt. “From an early age, my father said, ‘You can always play in the back. Keep playing at the front as long as possible, because that’s where you learn the most’. He saw certain qualities in me for a defender and I always kept that in mind. When Matthijs got into a relationship with my sister, I also saw the beauty of defending. They were very pleased that I finally made this choice, also because they can give me just the extra tips.” He discussed the position where he saw the most potential for his career with his father and De Ligt. What qualities do you need to be a good striker? And what qualities do you need as a good centre-back?
“Then we came to the conclusion that when you look at the good centre-backs in professional football, I have more of them than a good striker. I want to get the most out of it and I saw myself doing that more as a center defender than as a striker. The influences of my inner circle have played a part, but in the end it was my own choice. The feeling came more and more to do it.” Despite that feeling, the first games in the defense of Jong FC Volendam were quite uncomfortable. “I tried to do as much as possible on intuition and because of that you make errors of judgment, that is still the case. It is a matter of gaining experience, you have to find where and how to stand. It also took getting used to the ball, because you suddenly have so much time. You are quite busy in your head.”
Still, his father and De Ligt were quite enthusiastic after Molenaar’s first matches as center defender. “Matthijs came to watch the first competition match with Jong Volendam against Jong Sparta, he happened to be in the Netherlands at the time. He was also very enthusiastic afterwards. They had the feeling that it could turn out to be something, I think.” For Molenaar, his new position soon started to feel natural, which, in his own words, made it immediately fun. “I found the fun in the game again. Up front I had matches where I got four balls per half. And then I also got them on my chest or my head. Then I honestly sometimes thought: did I play football today? That feeling was completely different after my first matches as a defender. Taking balls away, much more in possession than in the front: the fun was there from day one. It gets more fun as you get better at it, if you can recognize situations, intercept balls that you have read in advance and win duels.”
Molenaar in one of the eleven matches he played on behalf of Jong FC Volendam in the Kitchen Champion Division last season.
Because the corona pandemic already ended the season in the Second Division in October last year, Molenaar did not play too many matches as a center defender. In the first team, he did not get further than a handful of matches on the reserve bench and a four-minute substitute against Go Ahead Eagles, his official debut in professional football. For this season, the prospect was that he would be the fourth center defender in the pecking order at FC Volendam. ‘Be patient, try to knock on the door as hard as possible’, Molenaar was told. “But I’m not a very patient person. I felt I was ready. Then when you have to line up behind three other centre-backs, you have to ask yourself if this is the perspective you want most. Or do you want to engage in a perhaps fairer battle in a different environment with a trainer who can get a new impression of you?”
Last summer Molenaar also completed an internship at the Italian Novara, which also wanted him. “But I just wanted to prove myself first in the Netherlands before I would make the move abroad again.” A conversation with Telstar trainer Andries Jonker immediately gave me a good feeling. “The coach said the best would play regardless of age or hierarchy. That’s what I was looking for. I really like the way how they train and watch football. As a result, the choice was not difficult in the end. It certainly turns out the way I hoped because I’m learning a lot. Also because I play in a slightly different position, the trainer tries to teach me the things that I can do better and I try to work with that.”
In the first five league games of the season, Molenaar was the starting player as the rightmost defender in a three-man defence. Suddenly he was now regularly in the right-back position, in a one-on-one duel with a wing attacker. “It’s a completely different position from centre-back. If you can do that too, it’s a nice addition to have in your luggage. The trainer tried to teach me that. When I had to get in or tilt to the other side. That might be a bit too much tactical bullshit”, Molenaar laughs. He regularly discusses such tactical bullshit with De Ligt. In Turin, Telstar’s matches are tuned weekly, after which the brothers-in-law call each other to discuss Molenaar’s game.
“Sometimes during matches I get into situations where I think: am I making the right choice here? Nowadays you can do anything with images, so I select the images or ask about that specific moment. I often recognize those moments. My father is very involved with Volendam, so he can’t see everything now. Last year, after the race, he always told me what I could do better. On the ball, but also positionally without the ball. I am well aware of what they say, they have top level experience and that is extremely useful. I am very happy to have those two people in my life”, Molenaar nods. He soberly analyzes what can be improved in his game: become more aggressive. Both in passing, in duels and in covering.
“I have to pick moments… Look, you can compare it with De Vrij and De Ligt. Two completely different central defenders. De Vrij tries very hard to read situations and often stays out of the duels. Matthijs is super aggressive, he can cover very short and wins almost all his duels. The mix between the two is actually ideal and maybe I’m leaning more towards De Vrij’s game now, while I need to get more of Matthijs in my game. That’s what I’m working on now.” It should be no secret that Molenaar likes to mirror De Ligt. “That might make sense. He is my brother-in-law, a very good friend and one of the best center backs in the world. I watch all his matches and follow everything. But I also find Chiellini horrific, she makes it so easy for herself by portraying it well. I spoke to him briefly once, when I was in Turin and Matthijs had to pick up something at the training complex. He came to have a chat with my sister and me, that really made an impression. I didn’t even play in the back then, but I secretly took it with me of course.”
After having been a basic player in the first games of the season, Molenaar has to make do with a place on the reserve bench in the last four games. “The trainer has said, ‘Take it easy, take your time. You get the space to adapt and what comes, that comes. But above all, be patient.” I started the preparation with that attitude”, he puts it into perspective. “I want to play as much as possible this season, gain experience, make strides and become a complete defender. Getting better, actually. Of course I have goals and things I want to achieve. It’s a matter of staying humble there, popping this season and getting better. Then I wonder where my ceiling is. That is difficult to estimate, because I only play in the back.”
Does a good sliding already feel the same as scoring a goal? “I think a good sliding is just as beautiful as scoring a goal. Yes, sincerely. Or well, for that matter.” He hesitates for a moment and continues after a short silence: “The euphoria that comes with a goal is extreme. But if you now put in a good tackle for a few thousand men at the last minute and hear the audience rage, it also gives me a huge euphoric boost. It may not be as beautiful as a goal, but it’s close.”
Name: Jip Miller
Date of birth: February 15, 2001
Club: Telstar
Position: defender
Strengths: insight, tackle, speed
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
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