Ids Hannema from Norg reached the semi-finals at the Clean Energy P500 padel tournament of Cream Crackers from Groningen. De Drent, once a gifted football player, has now reached the top 25 in the Netherlands.
Ids Hannema was once a great football talent. As a youth player of FC Groningen, the striker was allowed to dream of a life as a professional. That did not happen. Hannema ended up at the amateur club Achilles 1894 from Assen, scored in the big league and then opted for an adventure in the United States, but returned disillusioned. At Staphorst he tried to find his love for football again, but the lure of the padel court had become too loud.
In 2018 (or 2019, Hannema doesn’t even remember exactly) he held a padel racket in his hands for the first time in his hometown of Norg. ,,I immediately thought it was funny”, says Hannema nonchalantly. ,,But I already had the plan to go to the US to study and play football. That was in Ohio. It’s way too cold to play padel there, so I only did it if I came back from time to time.”
Spain, the promised land for padellers
In the US, Hannema slowly lost interest in football. ,,I didn’t like the coaches and they didn’t like me. I lost love for football and everything around it. Actually, I had already decided that I wanted to go full for padel.” When his time in the US was over, Hannema therefore immediately left for Spain, the promised land for padel players. “I learned a lot there. I paddled like a headless chicken, but in Spain I calmed down.”
The 24-year-old Hannema came into action last weekend at the heavily occupied Clean Energy P500 tournament. This was organized by Cream Crackers, the club on the other side of the road from the FC Groningen training complex, the place where Hannema once thought his future lay. De Drent (number 29 in the Netherlands) had found a partner in Thijs Roper (number 16). On Saturday there was a surprising victory over the losing finalists of the last Dutch Championship, Youp de Kroon and Julian Prins.
Immersive combat
In the semi-finals, the Hannema/Roper pair met the strong multiple Dutch champion Uriël Maarsen and number four of the Netherlands Robin Sietsma on Sunday morning. It was a compelling fight. Hannema/Roper was 4-0 behind in the blink of an eye, but turned that deficit into a 5-4 lead.
The Hannema/Roper duo served for the set, got a set point on golden point (in padel, a decisive point is played with deuce), but the point was lost, after which the set also went to the opponents with 7-5. In the second set, Hannema and Roper also played well, but their opponents were slightly better at the decisive moments. The second set was lost 6-1 and so the semi-final was the final station for Hannema and his partner. It was a small consolation that Maarsen/Sietsma eventually won the tournament.
,,I am very satisfied with our tournament, said Hannema cheerfully shortly after the elimination. ,,We played some fantastic pots. This was only our second tournament together. We’ll just have to see if we shouldn’t play together more often.”
No more scrolling
By reaching the semi-finals, Hannema climbs to 25th place on the Dutch padel ranking. “I am very happy with that. Now when I look at the ranking on the internet, I’m finally on the first tab, because they are ranked per 25 players. The goal is to be in the top 10 by the end of this year. That would mean that I no longer have to scroll to find my name,” says Hannema with a laugh.
To get there, Hannema will play a series of tournaments at home and abroad in the coming months. In between he gives lessons to be able to pay for the trips. De Drent has just returned from Sweden and has plans to go to Germany, Albania, Belgium and Austria. In Italy and Spain he will not show his face. “The standard is very high there. Even the local players are very strong there. By participating in those tournaments, you throw money away.”