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Cruijff made concentration classes mandatory – in vain

Stuttering Therapy and Breathing Training using the Del Ferro Method
  • 20 September 2025
Imponderabilia... A beautiful word that greets me from the pages of a book published in 1943: Mysterious Forces in Sport. I pull the book out of the cupboard and blow the dust off it after my attention is caught by a presentation by Margriet Sitskoorn, professor of clinical neuropsychology, while I am following incoming tweets.
Over Del Ferro stottertherapie is geschreven in Het Parool

This article was published on the website of Het Parool on 14 October 2016 and written by Davind Endt

One of her topics was about the concepts of focus and flow in sports. Focus leads to flow. How do you train the brain? Interesting, without question. It is not of today or yesterday. Distractors have always been there, although it is said that today there are many distractors. Distractors that undermine focus.

I open my old book. ‘Mental training and concentration have almost become buzzwords here in the Netherlands,’ states Joris van den Bergh, author of Mysterious Forces in Sports. Concentration is now called focus. He points to the concept of imponderabilia; the immeasurable and imponderables that the athlete must know how to handle as tools. That includes concentration training.

In 1985, trainer Cruijff made concentration lessons mandatory. Len del Ferro, a former opera singer and renowned vocal pedagogue in Amsterdam, had been recruitedfor this purpose.

Del Ferro came to De Meer and went straight to work. They were extraordinary sessions. By holding tones and controlling breathing , he stimulated concentration, focus. It amounted to” shutting yourself off from all influences present.

This was far from easy with students with no real attention to the immeasurable and the imponderable, but with considerable talent for joking. There was a laughing atmosphere in the little class.

When an Ajacied had to come forward, others did their best to disrupt the concentration. It led to anger from Mr. Del Ferro, which in turn caused hilarity because: plan succeeded. A few committed themselves seriously, but after six months the plan was disbanded. Del Ferro had something better to do.

Ingrid Del Ferro, Stuttering and Breathing Specialist at Del Ferro

Written by Ingrid Del Ferro

Ingrid Del Ferro is the director of the Del Ferro Institute and an international authority on stuttering therapy and breathing. Through her unique method, she trains the diaphragm to overcome physical blocks. Her expertise is sought after worldwide to resolve breathing difficulties (such as hyperventilation) and achieve hyperfocus in elite sports. Read More About Ingrid Here >>

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