AFTER a strong debut season with OFC Oostzaan, Callala Bay's Blake Horton is hoping to take his game to the next level, when the Dutch football season kicks-off in August.
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The 23-year-old goalkeeper has worked extremely hard to get where he is today, starting at age five with the Culburra Cougars in 1998, before stints with Callala, Bomaderry and Illaroo.
During that time, he also played for the Shoalhaven, from age 10 to 15 as well as Southern Branch, where his side won five premierships from 2005 to 2010.
Following this success, the former Nowra Christian School student played for Southern Branch in the NSW National Premier League Three competition, Port Kembla in the Illawarra Premier League (winning the first grade title in 2013) and Rockdale City Suns in the NSW National Premier League One where they won the Macedonia Cup in 2015.
After this, Horton decided to take his talents abroad, heading FC Chabab in the Hoofdklasse for half a season in 2015, before moving to professional team SC Telstar in the Jupiler League in 2015 until 2017.
Leaving Australia was hard saying goodbye to my friends, family and everything I have ever known, to go to a new place that I knew nothing about, Horton said.
It was an unknown adventure that I never thought would become my life.
The flight to Europe was a long one, but the excitement of playing in Europe was the only thing going through my mind.
Once in Amsterdam, it was a bit of a culture shock for me, such a different world then Australia, filled with so much history.
Thankfully my father was already in Europe, which was extremely helpful as he met me off the plane in Amsterdam.
Together we looked for hotels to stay at while we tried to organise where I was playing and the routes to and from main cities and football grounds.
It was hard the first month coming over, spending a lot of money on hotels until we were lucky enough to get a short rental area in Den Haag two hours from my team, but being the only place that would allow us to rent because we werent Dutch.
I would travel by a tram, train and three buses, taking up to two and a half hours each way, just to get to my training sessions.
I would travel by a tram, train and three buses, taking up to two and a half hours each way, just to get to my training sessions.
The language barrier and culture is totally different to Australia, making it a constant challenge to keep motivated and keep pushing for my goals.
It has been difficult leaving home and a huge sacrifice adapting to the freezing weathers of minus five degrees, as well as playing in snow and sleet.
It is extremely competitive over here and is a difficult market to break into, especially as a goalkeeper.
But once he broke into a professional set up with SC Telstar in the Jupiler League, there was no looking back for Horton.
It was a tough transition from training three nights a week and a game on the weekend, to training every day and a game on a Friday night, he said.
We would train every morning from 8:30am-12pm, have a hour lunch break and train again in the afternoon from 2-4.30pm the training load was a lot harder and was a full eight hours a day.
These included strength sessions at a gym, meetings about upcoming matches, constant testing of our fitness, fat percentage, max strength tests and much more.
The training sessions taught me more about football than I have ever experienced before.
From 2017 until now, Horton has been plying his trade with OFC Oostzaan in East Amsterdam Derde Divisie.
As he heads into his second season with OFC, Hortons coaches gave him instructions on how to take his game to the next level.
As a footballer, there is always areas of your game you need to work on to become a better football player you always need to work hard on areas youre good at, but even harder at the areas in which you feel are your weaker attributes, he said.
My first season was a learning season for me learning from coaches and players that have played at the highest levels in Europe and the world.
It was hard to adapt to a different football style and to change my game to fit the European way of playing was difficult.
An example of this is passing the ball from your goal and maintaining the ball in your box at your feet.
In Australia, it is different and just learning that difference was hard, but over the year I was able to adapt and play the way they liked.
Horton, who played against both Ajax Amsterdam and AZ Alkmaar last season, has just started playing trial matches ahead of the 2018/19 season, which kicks-off on August 18.
My pre-season matches this second season with OFC has been good so far, he said.
I played our first match against a team in the league above us and kept a clean sheet with several saves, in a solid overall performance by our squad.
The training is hard as it is all fitness testing and running mainly, but with a pre-season, it is about regaining your fitness and getting back to the level of being able to compete for 90 minutes.
Horton, who hopes to help his team achieve promotion this season, is mainly excited to continue living out his dream of being a professional footballer.
My career has been full of hard work not being from a youth setup and going of limited training and experience, he said.
"It has been hours, days and years of hard work on and off the field, with training, diets, strength training, injuries and set backs, that has enabled me to strive and push even harder for my goals.
This has all helped me keep the motivation and intensity to maintain my place over here in the Netherlands.
Without this, I would never have achieved my dream of becoming a professional footballer.
I cant wait to see what the future holds.
Down the road, Horton hopes to one day play for Australia.