{"id":547,"date":"2017-03-01T10:30:21","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T09:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/?p=66541\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T17:06:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T16:06:57","slug":"liever-dromen-dan-vrienden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/03\/01\/liever-dromen-dan-vrienden\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing my dreams over friendships"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s the perfect subject for a new series of boys\u2019 books. Wouter (10) spends five years living in Cura\u00e7ao with his parents. He then moves to Almelo, starts playing in the position of keeper at the local football club, and within six months he\u2019s scouted by a professional club. During his entire youth Wouter plays as keeper for the Dutch national youth teams and goes on to become a professional footballer. But it doesn\u2019t end there. Wouter wants more, so he enrols in the medicine programme at Erasmus University to realise his dream: studying at a prestigious American university.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just one big difference between this boys\u2019 book and the stories about Billy Boots or the twins Hielke and Sietse and their boat The Chameleon. Wouter\u2019s story is true.<\/p>\n

Two important letters<\/h3>

Late last year this medical student received letters from the US. Sender: the Boston Children\u2019s Hospital and Harvard University. Subject: he had been admitted. \u201cSometimes I come across as emotionless, and as a footballer you keep your emotions in check. But when I got those letters, I wept like a child.\u201d In July Dronkers will (if all goes according to plan) take his last Dutch exam before his adventure in America starts. \u201cAt Erasmus MC I came in contact with a surgeon who was involved in research at a children\u2019s hospital in Boston. Right away I
\nthought: Harvard is practically in Boston. This is as close it gets. That\u2019s why I applied to both. After this summer I will be studying at Harvard and conducting research at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018But ever since I\u2019ve always dreamt of studying there\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Studying at one of America\u2019s most prestigious universities has been a long-cherished wish for Dronkers. As a little boy he wasn\u2019t dreaming about a career as a fireman, policeman or astronaut. \u201cWhen I was 5, my father\u2019s job took us from the Netherlands to Cura\u00e7ao. While we lived there we often went on holidays to Boston and New York and we visited the big university campuses there. I still remember walking there as a little 8-yearold boy and finding it fascinating. You\u2019re not fully conscious of it at that age, but ever since I\u2019ve always dreamt of studying there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doubts<\/h3>

In spite of this, the dream was pushed into the background for a long time. When he was 10, the Vlaardingen-born Wouter moved with his family from the Caribbean to the somewhat less tropical environs of Almelo. After six months in the Netherlands his life took an unexpected turn. \u201cI played a lot of sports in Cura\u00e7ao, but I\u2019d never really played football. Back here in the Netherlands I started in the position of keeper and within half a year I\u2019d been scouted by FC Twente.\u201d This \u2018transfer\u2019 turned Dronkers\u2019 teenage years upside down.<\/p>\n

Every day the alarm clock sounded before six and after a full day at school and football training, the young keeper was usually only home by seven thirty. Not much time left over for teenage activities, but it was worth it. At 16 Dronkers made his debut for the Dutch National team and in the same year he signed his first professional contract.<\/p>\n

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Even though it all seemed to bode well, his definitive breakthrough with FC Twente\u2019s first team failed to materialise. The keeper played for the reserve team and sat on the bench for the Eredivisie (Dutch equivalent of the English Premier League) and European matches. He was unable to claim a first-team place in goal. \u201cThe reason? Maybe I wasn\u2019t good enough, but it\u2019s also a matter of being in the right place at the right time. I also really don\u2019t think I got the opportunities I deserved.\u201d That\u2019s when fulfilling the dream of studying at a prestigious university returned. \u201cI wanted a different kind of challenge, so I started studying psychology at the University of Twente. That\u2019s the first time I started having doubts about my football career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Kluivert<\/h3>

Then something special happened, banishing his doubts. It\u2019s not his parents or friends who convinced him not to pack away his goalkeeper gloves just yet, but it\u2019s former Dutch national team striker Patrick Kluivert. \u201cFrom 2011 through 2013 he was my trainer with the FC Twente youth team. Patrick is the best trainer I\u2019ve ever had and the kindest man I\u2019ve ever met in the football world. I still speak with him every week.\u201d In their oneon-one talks, Kluivert convinced him to take the plunge. \u201cHe said: \u2018You\u2019re crazy if you quit now. I know you don\u2019t have control of everything, but sometimes you have to take a risk and just go for it.\u2019 When someone like Patrick Kluivert tells you something like that, you take it to heart and think about it twice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018I told them right away that I had started studying medicine in Rotterdam\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

With a transfer to Vitesse in the summer of 2014, Dronkers hoped his dream of becoming a keeper in the Eredivisie would come true. He signed for three years, but from the start, he makes his plans for his studies clear. \u201cI told them right away that I had started studying medicine in Rotterdam. Everybody was positive about this and I found it reassuring. I\u2019ll never be able to prove it and people will say I\u2019m shifting the blame, but I believe my intention to study was the reason my contract with Twente wasn\u2019t extended.<\/p>\n

A lot of people view Vitesse as a kind of soap opera, but I\u2019ve never gotten that impression. It\u2019s a close-knit, friendly club.\u201d But despite the good reception at Vitesse, Dronkers gets no more than few minutes with the youth team, and none in the Eredivisie.<\/p>\n

Lonely<\/h3>

Serious doubts resurfaced when the goalkeeper once again failed to realise his Eredivisie dream due to all the sacrifices he\u2019d made. \u201cEver since secondary school I\u2019ve been in unfamiliar surroundings and I sacrificed a lot in my social life. I rarely regret anything, but that lack of a social life sometimes gnaws at me. I made those choices, so I\u2019m not looking for pity, but I do feel lonely sometimes. It\u2019s hard to say this about yourself, but that\u2019s the way it is.\u201d His \u2018second life\u2019 as a student doesn\u2019t make things any easier. \u201cI work about a hundred hours a week. I\u2019m up before six every day of the week. If I have to train, I drive to Arnhem. In the afternoon I drive back and study until bedtime. It\u2019s demanding, but necessary. I have to complete my bachelor programme before I can go to America. I\u2019ve had this kind of pressure my entire life and I enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s why it\u2019s not the pressure that troubles him. It\u2019s the loneliness. \u201cOf course I have my contacts in football. Yet even though it\u2019s a team sport, it\u2019s still lonely. Everyone is focused on their own careers, so I don\u2019t have any real friendships there. I know a lot of people through my studies, but when they go to the pub or to other social activities, I have to head home. I have to be up the next morning before six o\u2019clock to go to the training ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Off to the casino<\/h3>

Dronkers lives in two different worlds and when they clash, it amplifies the feeling of loneliness. In both the football dressing room and at university, he often feels like an outsider. \u201cIt\u2019s not that people don\u2019t accept me. I play football at Vitesse with guys from Chelsea who probably earn twenty times more than I do, but I have something they don\u2019t have: my university education. That wins a lot of respect. They\u2019re also genuinely interested, but I still don\u2019t belong.\u201d He has the same feeling at university. \u201cI always have to prove that I\u2019m not just \u2018that footballer\u2019. Professors and students not really interested in football look at you a certain way at first. I can\u2019t blame them for that, but it means I\u2019m facing an uphill battle from the outset and that\u2019s frustrating. Every summer I find I\u2019m asking myself if my dream of playing football is really worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018If I\u2019ve had a bad day at football training then I can still make my day worthwhile at university\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

So far, the answer to that question has been a resounding yes every year. \u201cPerhaps at some point when I\u2019m 36 I\u2019ll realise I didn\u2019t make it to the Eredivisie or reach other goals in my football career, but I always gave a hundred percent. That means the feeling of disappointment won\u2019t run so deep.\u201d Dronkers admits that studying medicine might be the best remedy for healing that feeling of regret. \u201cIf I\u2019ve had a bad day at football training then I can still make my day worthwhile at university. There are some guys who train and afterwards they go to the casino. That kind of life seems empty to me. In terms of a social life, perhaps my life is empty sometimes, but their world is empty too. I know I\u2019ll be devastated if I don\u2019t reach my footballing goals. I want to make my debut in the Eredivisie and I\u2019ll be dismayed if I if I don\u2019t succeed. But soon I will have the opportunity of appearing in the Champions League of university studies.\u201d<\/p>\n

No superpowers<\/h3>

Wouter hopes his extraordinary story will inspire his fellow students and others his age, even though he doesn\u2019t cast himself as a guru. \u201cI could use my experiences as a new source of motivation for people. They could probably also do it without me \u2013 I don\u2019t have any superpowers \u2013 but I would appreciate the chance to give something back. Following your dreams is possible, even at Erasmus. I\u2019ve always had a lot of support. Of course it\u2019s hard, but no one ever said it would be easy.\u201d Dronkers believes his story could serve as encouragement for both prospective professional athletes as well as for his fellow medical students. \u201cYou\u2019re already so privileged to have been selected. And then you don\u2019t attend lectures because you feel like sleeping in? I can\u2019t understand that. Force yourself to get out of bed; if not for yourself, do it for your future patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

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His American adventure starts this summer, when he hopes to take the first steps leading to a life as a plastic surgeon or neurosurgeon. \u201cNot breast augmentation. Reconstructive surgery, the real precision work is what I want. I was born with a physical defect where my middle finger and my ring finger were fused together, so I\u2019ve always been drawn to reconstructive surgery.\u201d On top of all this, Dronkers wants to continue playing football. \u201cI\u2019ve had talks with Major League Soccer clubs (American Premier League football \u2013 ed.). I\u2019m going to carry on. Some days I think: I\u2019m just going to drop it all and go have a beer with my friends. But then I realise how much I\u2019ve achieved and I think: why are you being so daft? The moment that I decide \u2018enough with football, I\u2019m finished\u2019 could happen any time. Then I\u2019ll stop. But not yet. When I\u2019m 70 I could ask myself how many friends I could have had if I had made different choices, but I never want to regret failing to pursue my dreams. That\u2019s more important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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