He is currently in his first full season as a full member of the first selection. After Mik Kramer started on the bench in the cup and came in as midfielder, he never expected to disappear from the Schoondijke team after the first competition match. He has been a starter since the second game. Not as a midfielder but as a central defender.
“That was quite a change. In the first match against IJzendijke I started as a midfielder, but after the break the trainer put me in the center back and he seemed to like that. Since then I have been at center back every week. It is a nice place to fill in and I am now trying to do that as best as possible. It’s nice to have the game in front of you and to gain possession of the ball a lot and start building up from there. It feels nice to receive so much confidence from the trainer when I was seventeen and to be able to start every week. I certainly never expected that when I took the step from youth.”
Kramer is now eighteen and is in charge of the rearguard of Saturday’s fourth division team, which will most likely play in the fifth division next season due to the reinforced relegation scheme. “On the one hand, that is a shame, but on the other hand, we knew in advance that it would be a big challenge to finish among the safe six teams this season. So if you look at it realistically, it makes sense that you can continue building at a lower level. We make progress every week and see that we are making it increasingly difficult for opponents. That is also a great development and from there it can only get better in the future.”
Kramer was born and raised in Schoondijke and lives near Sportpark De Molenkreek. His father was also active in the first team there for many years and Mik was a boy watching the first team’s achievements. “Always with the aim of eventually playing football in it myself. I started here as a youth player and when I was 12 I moved to the Breskens youth team, which then played at a higher level. Later I returned and played for another two years in the youth team in a collaborative team of Schoondijke, Groede and Cadzand. Since this season I have been stuck with the first team.”
Although his father played in the first team as a defender for no less than twenty years, that was not the ambition that the young Kramer had. “I always played as a striker until I was fifteen, then I ended up in the position of central defender. We had a good striker in our youth and there was a lack of a defender. I then said that I wanted to play that and I liked it. At first I was initially used as a midfielder, but the trainer soon decided to put me in the center back.”
Although, according to the young defender, there could have been more this season, it is important to take steps forward with the current group next year. “We have a young group and we must do everything we can to stay together with this selection, preferably supplemented with some additional reinforcements. There is an upward trend and it is nice to be part of it. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll be playing here for the rest of my life. I like it perfectly and we are getting better every week. Who knows what it could one day lead to, but I am convinced that there is much more to it here at Schoondijke.”
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Tags: Mik Kramer immediately starting position debut season coming
