Football talent from Valthermond Jannick has the bleeding disorder hemophilia. He saw the inside of the hospital all too often, but on Wednesday he was a guest of honor in the FC Emmen stadium.
“I’m scared to death,” shouts Jannick Grooten (7) when the imposing club mascot Sibi is waiting for him at the main entrance of De Oude Meerdijk.
It turns out not to be the last surprise of the day. Together with father Jochem, mother Tamara and big sister Naomi, he drove from Valthermond to De Oude Meerdijk early in the morning. It was the only assignment they received besides ‘bring your football boots’.
Unforgettable day
Volunteers from the Wish Foundation Drenthe and Naoberschap Foundation the social branch of the football club, has prepared a series of surprises.
Mother Tamara is the instigator. “Jannick has had to fight a lot in his young life. Not all days are easy, we wish him an unforgettable day,” she says.
Jannick has the rare and hereditary bleeding disorder hemophilia. He can quickly experience bleeding that cannot be stopped without medication. He had previously been in hospital for two weeks with complications and lost a large part of his teeth due to medication. While a regular tonsil operation takes other children a day, it kept Jannick busy for a week.
Welcome aboard
Tamara sent a wish to the Drenthe Wish Foundation. There they fulfill the wishes of children whose lives are not so carefree. Volunteers Ria van der Aa and Yvonne Santen were impressed by the wish from Valthermond and went for coffee with FC Emmen and the family.
Ria van der Aa: “They turned out to be real football supporters. There was even Feyenoord wallpaper in the house, but that turned out to be mainly from father. The rest of the family is for FC Emmen. So we asked the club if they wanted to help make a special wish come true.”
Leave that to FC Emmen. Once the first impression of the dressed-up Siberian tiger is over, the players of the first team follow in Sibi’s wake. They have heard from their special guest and co-star for a day. “You must be Jannick, welcome on board,” says midfielder Jorrit Smeets upon arrival, including a high five.
Impressed
The players have a cup of coffee and a game of club before the training starts. Meanwhile, the Grooten family is crawling and sneaking through the stadium. It’s a good place to be in head coach Fred Grim’s chair in the press room. “I look good here,” Jannick says with satisfaction.
He is convinced by Marcel Sulmann from Noaberschap that there are many more beautiful places to come. And that’s not a lie. Jannick marvels in the players’ home, in the sky boxes, on the television tower, in the loft of equipment man Karel and on the chair of mayor Eric van Oosterhout. The boy seems to be a quiet enjoyer and sticks to coy ‘thank you’s’ and ‘nice’.
His parents nudged each other: “We don’t know him like that at all, normally he always talks. So he’s really impressed.”
Worn in hand
The people of Emmen just take it a step further. At the club museum he receives a bag full of club equipment, including a ball with player signatures and a shirt with his own name on the back. Immediately change clothes.
Dressed in the new red and white, it is time to join the selection. Team manager Antoine van der Linden wraps his arms around the shoulders of his youngest pupil towards the dressing room. There he is literally adored by the selection. On the training field, he takes the lead a little later in the rondo and during warm-up. Fred Grim looks on with satisfaction. The coach has an eye for young talent.
Jannick is a real scoring midfielder at the JO8 of football club Valtermond. “Last week two goals against Drenthina,” he says proudly.
Not obvious
It is not self-evident that he plays football so fanatically. In fact, the doctors were not enthusiastic about that idea and recommended at most sticking to gnome football (for the youngest pupils). His parents decided differently.
“When Jannick gets up he already has a ball at his foot. We can’t wrap him in bubble wrap and let him sit still all day,” says mother Tamara.