Humans ever since the dawn of time have been made to coexist with one another, but within this adaptive process some have been vouchsafed with privileges to be of some worth greater disposition than the others. Sometimes these unique social beings aren’t so much different as they are often presented to be to the public, but the pivotal component being their approach to their dreams, that is the level of commitment, persistence and perseverance given by them, as they were once just ordinary people, one of these ‘not so much different humans’ is Virgil Van Dijk.
Virgil Van Dijk most often shortened by football supporters as VVD, is an international footballer from Netherlands, who goes about his trade in the U.K, currently signed to Liverpool, an English football club.
Rising to and being a big name in this sport is not an easy task, Virgil’s story is really a form of inspiration to many football fans, supporters and aspirants of the popular sport. Born on the 8th of July 1991, the twenty-eight years old Dutch although residing now in the U.K, was born in the humble locality of Brenda, north of Brabant where he started his journey from.
VVD has successfully established himself as one of the best Centre-back in the world of male professional football, presently earning a weekly wage of £150,000 and with a whooping net-worth of about £15 million, it could be said that really this young man could probably get almost anything money could buy, from his expensive cars to houses, artefacts, well just name it. But his rise to stardom might not have been the most pleasant one, or that filled with roses, having to juggle enrolment into a football academy with a part-time job as a dish washer and assisting at home, it must really have been hard.
After years of hard-work, consistency, persistence and perseverance he gained a little recognition and was transferred to FC Groningen in 2010. It was however until almost a year after, he could debut for his new club, he later got injured and was side lined for some time, but this did not stop the future ballon d’or nominee from chasing his dreams and putting in more effort, he later got back to action for his club after months and even scored a couple of times which is something rare for a footballer who plays his position. June 2013 saw his move to the Scottish giants, Celtic FC on a four years contract. He ones again showed his worth and was nominated for the PFA Scotland Players’ player of the year award, after aiding his club to gold by winning the Scottish league.
He made his full international debut for his country in 2015, and shortly moved to English premier league side Southampton where he really attained the profile of one of the best in the league, and then in January 2018, he was signed by Liverpool for a then record fee of £75 million for a center back player, and today he is one of the three players shortlisted for the prestigious 2019 Ballon D’or award alongside football greats Lionel Messi of Barcelona FC and Argentina, and Christiano Ronaldo of juventus FC and Portugal
It could be seen from this beautiful epistle that attaining one’s goal is a gradual and persistent process, one that is often filled with discouraging situations and moments when one might feel like relenting and ending, for example during his period of injury, and probably the long waiting period before been given chance to debut when signed. Beaming through isn’t always simple, one needs to acquire the rare virtue of patience and determination, and always finding a way of encouraging one’s self admist disappointing as discouraging moments, that it is key to always put in sight that image of the goal to be achieved and put in all the required attributes to attaining it, while being optimistic, persevering and determined.
Wise men have written, that what often distinct the special ones from the rest is the willingness to keep going admist discouraging events, getting up when down, always to keep on moving forward and believing in the process. success being the result and reward of hard-work, perhaps at last one could finally reach that moment to really stand boldly in victory, and say he or she made it, as he could now say he made it, Van Dijk made it.
