A very special transition may be in the making for Rafaël Dantas Camargo and Thymo Scheper. The pair normally play in the Under-19s of the Haarlem amateur club EDO this season, but will be on stage at KV Mechelen this week. If they leave a good impression during this trial period, they can join the Belgian club’s promise team.
By Chris Meijer
Dantas Camargo and Scheper’s alarm clock went off at 4:30 on Thursday morning. The pair were expected at the training complex of KV Mechelen at nine o’clock, so they were already racing from North Holland to Belgium before dawn. “You dream about this, so I cannot complain. I am very happy with it ”, responds Dantas Camargo – a seventeen-year-old wing attacker – immediately when the busy days during the internship week come up. Teammate Schepers – an eighteen-year-old left / right back – also shrugs. “It is very busy, we have to go back and forth to Belgium every day. But yes, you have to give something to make your dream come true. ”
Slowly but surely, their dream begins to take shape for the two amateur footballers. They joined the academy of Thanasi Ntinoudis (Sports World Ntinoudis) a year and a half ago, in order to be able to train extra outside their amateur club. “From an early age I wanted to be a professional footballer, but around my twelfth or thirteenth I had given up hope a bit. Until I ran into Thanasi, he saw me playing football and asked if I would like to train with him. He made me believe in it again. I have become a better football player, conditionally fitter and mentally stronger. I was already watching my diet and went to bed on time. Just tight, you have to be disciplined if you want to get to the top, ”explains Dantas Camargo. Ntinoudis, also agent, sent video images of his two pupils to KV Mechelen and the Belgian club became so charmed that they were allowed to do an internship this week.
“It was not necessarily a surprise, but I did have the feeling that it was coming. It was really nice to hear, yes. We worked hard for it and I think I was ready for it. So in that regard, I am also relieved that the opportunity has come. I am very grateful to Thanasi for that. The intensity and seriousness of his training made me enormously motivated ”, Schepers beams. KV Mechelen is a big name in Belgian football. There are four national titles, two cups and one European Cup II conquered under Aad de Mos on the honors list. “Is that right? Nice. That was a bit ahead of my time ”, Schepers responds cautiously when De Mos’s name is mentioned. “I didn’t know very much about the club. That they played high, though. But otherwise it was a bit of a surprise. ”
It is a step: from the Noordersportpark in Haarlem where EDO plays its matches to the training complex of KV Mechelen. “Analyzes are done, you have different trainers. For tactics, for the physical aspect. It is really a very large club, the level is very high. The difference with amateur football is quite big. I can learn a lot here, develop enormously and take big steps. Everyone is good, everyone is up to standard. That also helps you to develop, ”says Dantas Camargo. Schepers agrees that the level of the promises of KV Mechelen is somewhat higher than that of the Under-19 of EDO, which plays in the third division. “At a certain point you get a bit in the flow with the tempo. The training is of a higher level, it is much more professional than I was used to. I feel like it is going well. ”
“It already feels a bit like I am a professional footballer, this is already a dream come true. It’s cool to live a bit of a professional football anyway. I never gave up on that dream, ”says Schepers with a smile. The pair will hear next week whether they can permanently join the promises team of KV Mechelen. Dantas Camargo decides with determination: “This is my first chance at a professional club and I will do my very best to make sure that it has to be the only one right away.”