Many Dutch professional clubs trained in warmer places these weeks to prepare for the second half of the competition. But Bram Stolp only really knows what playing football is in the heat. The 21-year-old goalkeeper from Bergen op Zoom plays goalkeeper in Dubai and trains every day at seven in the morning: “There have been training sessions that it became black before my eyes.”
Bram played goalkeeper for several years at RKC/Willem II and NAC as a youth, but it did not lead to a breakthrough in professional football. He continued at amateur club MOC’17, where he learned a lot from goalkeeper coach Corné van Hoof, until he embarked on an American adventure last year. “A friend of mine studied in America and told beautiful stories. I became interested and decided to study in combination with goalkeeping in a university team.”
He started in Ohio, but then left for the university team near Miami. Last year he returned to the Netherlands after the season, after which he was approached to join a professional club in Dubai. “TFA Elite has only been around for a few years and is focused on picking up talent. I am the only Dutch person and share an apartment with a boy from Uruguay. The selection consists of players all over the world. All with the aim of taking a step higher.”
“It is now 26 degrees, which is nice.”
In Dubai he had to get used to the heat in the beginning. “Every morning we leave the flat where we all live by bus to the training complex. We already train at seven o’clock, otherwise it would be impossible due to the weather. Playing football in the summer at around 45 degrees is tough. The last minutes of a training session is more a matter of survival. It is now winter and about 26 degrees, which is nice.”
After training, he often goes to the gym and video analyzes are regularly scheduled. “We are fullprosbut I think full time sound so strange. In my mind, that means working five days a week, at least eight hours a day.”
“I like life before sport.”
Bram likes life in Dubai, although he doesn’t expect to stay there long. “Our club plays at the third level, in principle I want to move up after a year. Although I realize that as a 21-year-old boy I am at the bottom of the food chain. I like life before sport. There are all kinds of challenges, it is not a boring life. I behave professionally and since I entered this world, I discovered that there are many opportunities.”
“Everything is possible in sports.”
A new club in Dubai is an option, although Bram prefers a different culture. “Here, almost everything is based on forming connections that benefit you. Meetings are work related. In Miami it was more focused on making real friends, although that could also be the school culture. Everything is possible for me in terms of sports. Europe is my preference, because the football is the best there. Although an adventure somewhere else can also be interesting.”
The disadvantage of his professional contract in Dubai is that he has not seen his friends for a long time. “My parents came for a few weeks in October and my friends would like to come over. But I don’t want to be in the middle of the season when they visit. Then we can really enjoy it together.”