4/8/2010: Dutch Lions & American Lions All In Town Next Monday

Six Dutch players as well as a few American players outside of the Dayton area will fly into Dayton's airport next Monday to join the Dayton area players. Some players, such as Ivar van Dinteren (pictured above), will have to balance the busy PDL season with their business ventures in Holland.

The whole Dayton Dutch Lions team will be in town starting next Monday. Six Dutch players will be flying in (Bas Ent and Johan Wigger are already in town), the other half of the DDL F.C. players are from the local area, while some other American charges will be flying in too, such as Evan Schwartz from the beaches of Florida.

One of the Dutch players, Ivar van Dinteren, will be flying into Dayton's airport next Monday as well (I'll have a time up sometime this weekend, if there are any well wishers that want to take a picture, autograph, and etc. of those players arriving at the airport). Ivar van Dinteren, who will play in the midfield for the Lions, had to say the following to the Dutch press about the experience and his anticipation to work with kids in Ohio:

"I already knew the coach training, and knew that they (owners Erik Tammer & Mike Mossel) knew of me. I want to like them help the club build and inspire the youth of Ohio. "

Ivar is excited with the opportunity during the season and to help train the youth players after the season. But, Ivar will also balance his busy schedule with the Dutch Lions with his business overseas. Ivar runs transfervrijevoetballers.nl which is basically like a Monster.com for unemployed players all around the world. He actually got a lot of emails by unemployed players from all around the world looking to go with him to Dayton for this great opportunity. Ivar said sadly that he had to ignore most of those, the player personnel decisions were not up to him.

In regards to Ivar's website, he states that profit is never the intent and even if the project has cost him a little bit- the costs were negligble and well worth it.

"If my investment over two, three or four years back with me, I find it fine. Many players have found their way to a new club and was there for me to do."

Ivar will keep tabs on his business through talking on Skype to a few other players that help him run the website back in Holland. Actually, a good sponsor for the Dutch Lions would be Skype as the free internet phone service has been crucial for keeping those in the Dutch Lion organization in America and Holland connected.