John "Xuxuh" Hilton at Dordrecht (Netherlands)

I kind of stumbled upon this thread looking for something else and went down the rabbit hole of trying to find out if he’s still with Volendam and what he’s done recently. The thought occurred to me, hasn’t Sergiño Dest basically turned into everything we ever hoped Xuxuh would become? Kind of funny how that worked out.

 

And the Pynadaths

 

I guess it's kinda true, but not really sure what it tells us apart from that Hilton got a lot of hype (and not just from message-board types) very young, and his career took a lot of unusual twists and turns.

 

I just thought it was an interesting tidbit. I don’t think there’s any lesson here or anything

 

With that said, I'd be delighted to read an in-depth piece that talks to the right people and pulls together the threads of Hilton's career -- not so much from a "Why did this guy fail?" perspective (and anyway, he's still young) but just kind of fills in the blanks. He's been "out there" for nearly a decade and a lot has happened. Heck, this thread is some six years and a dozen pages long.

 

We have a healthy list of players like this. Players where the behind the scenes details would fill in a lot of pieces. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never know for most of them.

 

Basically always the same: overambitious parents and prediatory agents.

 

I randomly stumbled upon a video about this kid on the 3four3 yt channel. It was from like 8 or 9 yrs ago.
Brian K wrongly predicted that this kid would be some kind of world super star. I could tell from the video that that would be unlikely because the dad was over-training the kid and telling him "don't show pain" and stupid shit like that. The kid looked depressed. Brain K seems to like overworking kids. The kid was 11 then... dude how in the world do you know if an 11 yr old is going to be "world class". Way too many variables in life in childhood and teenage years to make such boastful predictions.

 

Spotted in a couple of friendlies:

↔️ Plat stuurt 11 nieuwe namen in het veld voor de 2e helft

Van Der Wilt; Hilton (C), Addo, Smit, Stouthart; Vernooij, Sier, Lauwerens; Wouter, Rijkaard, Boateng.

Kom op boys!!#HOLJVO pic.twitter.com/u3Hh0T4bIW

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) July 10, 2021

Opstelling JVO: Vlak, Tol, Koorndijk, Kramer, Vertrouwd, El Idrissi, De Haan, Hilton, Zonneveld, Blom, Douiri #KATjvo

— VV Katwijk (@vvkatwijk) July 13, 2021

 

Friendly appearance off the bench:

👀
🇺🇸 Xuxuh Hilton subbed on for Volendam's senior squad today in a 2-0 friendly victory over Luca de la Torre and Heracles 👏 https://t.co/E3sXSfrrgR

— 🇺🇸 ⚽ east (@eastdeflection) July 16, 2021

 

Started in Jong friendly as Captain:

📄 De 22 namen én wisselspelers van vandaag.#jvoeem pic.twitter.com/MlLpJpSgBp

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) July 17, 2021

Out at the half:

46' | Verse krachten op het veld!

➡️Jozhua Vertrouwd, Max Boateng, Jeremiah Griffith, Kayne van Oevelen en Jordi Blom
⬅️John Hilton, Achraf Douiri, Vernon Addo, Billy van Duijl en Dion Vlak#jvoeem

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) July 17, 2021

 

Starts for Jong Volendam:

𝕋𝕖𝕒𝕞 ℕ𝕖𝕨𝕤⚔️

Deze elf mogen de wei in.#zoajvo pic.twitter.com/hv2eMNRg46

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) July 27, 2021

 

On the bench for a first team friendly against Ajax:

⚡️ 𝕋𝕖𝕒𝕞 ℕ𝕖𝕨𝕤

Deze namen beginnen aan de aftrap!#voljaj pic.twitter.com/8bvSIyH1aR

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) July 31, 2021

 

Enters against Jong Ajax:

65' | Dubbele wissel aan de kant van Volendam.

▶️ Beers & Hilton
◀️ Mühren & James

[4 - 1]#voljaj

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) July 31, 2021

 

Starts in his Eerste Divisie debut:

🆕 Nieuw seizoen ➩ Nieuwe namen.

✅ Officieel debuut voor Filip Stankovic, John Hilton, Damon Mirani & Daryl van Mieghem.#einvol | #fcevol pic.twitter.com/CoPBOCKuIT

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) August 6, 2021

 

Starts for Jong Volendam:

⚔️ Het strijdplan van vandaag!#spajvo pic.twitter.com/Ge5ESiumLx

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) August 21, 2021

 

Starts for Jong Volendam:

Back in business 👔

De opstelling van vandaag 𝕏𝕀#gvvjvo pic.twitter.com/6UfQuASCCx

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) September 4, 2021

 

On the bench:

⚡ Boy ⇒ Basis

🔥 Vlammen, jongens!#gravol | #VolVoorOranje pic.twitter.com/Wxs5Pnq0w7

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) September 10, 2021

 

On the bench:

🤙 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘨𝘵 ➩ Basisplaats

☘️ 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘭 ➩ 𝗗𝗥𝗜𝗘 𝗢𝗣 𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗥𝗜𝗝#volrod | #VolVoorOranje pic.twitter.com/IMrJklYCJU

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) September 13, 2021

 

These recent bench appearances are for the first team, right?

 

It doesn't help that Volendam doesn't do much to differentiate the teams. But the last couple of bench appearances are for the 1st team. "Keuken Kampioen" in the little red/white logo is the Erste Divisie, which is for the 1st team. "Jack's League" in the similar style logo is the 3rd tier where Jong Volendam plays.

The club differentiates the images format for the 2 teams, but it's really hard to keep track of the two.

 

There's a reason I asked you, rather than tried to figure it out myself...

 

Came on at the half:

46' | Kramer blijft achter in de kleedkamer.

Go John!

[1 - 0]#volrod pic.twitter.com/KwQwqvnXGj

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) September 13, 2021

 

Starts for the 1st team:

🆕🆕🆕

🙋‍♂️ Jordi Blom debuteert vandaag voor FC Volendam.

👉 Ook Boy Deul en John Hilton beginnen in de basis.#volvvv pic.twitter.com/s0YoAh2odP

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) September 17, 2021

 

79' | Come on Mike!

[2 - 1]#volvvv pic.twitter.com/2NbclHCI5Y

— FC Volendam 🔶 (@fcvolendam) September 17, 2021

They won 2-1.