The Kitchen Champion Division has been used as a nursery for national and international talents for decades and this season too, many football players with potential are walking around on the second level. As the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division, Voetbalzone highlights one of these talents every week. This time attention is paid to Sem Scheperman, who was admitted at a young age to the joint youth academy of FC Twente and Heracles and is now increasingly rattling at the gate in Almelo.
By Mart Oude Nijeweeme
What is good comes quickly. They must have thought that at Heracles Almelo when they offered Sem Scheperman a new contract at the beginning of October. The twenty-year-old midfielder from his own youth signed his first professional contract in March and saw it broken open a few months later and extended until mid-2025. A story about an upcoming talent that Frenkie de Jong and Ryan Gravenberch admire, plays under the wing of Thomas Bruns and Marko Vejinovic and hopes to be a regular starter at the end of the season.
The story of Scheperman goes back sixteen years, when he became a member of the local football association VV Holten at the age of four. Two years later, he is scouted for the joint youth academy of FC Twente and Heracles, who contact his parents. Vitesse also reports. But Scheperman is too young. At the age of eight he eventually moves to the academy in Hengelo, where he will play in the E1. “We won everything 10-0, had a goal difference of 100 plus at the end of the season. That was way too easy. We played under the name of ATC’65, an amateur club from the neighbourhood. At that age you are not allowed to play for a BVO.”
Sem Scheperman is delirious with joy when he has provided the assist to teammate Anas Ouahim.
When asked how Scheperman managed to put himself in the spotlight at clubs in the Eredivisie at such a young age, he cannot answer. “I dare not answer that. In fact: I always heard from my parents that I used to mainly watch other boys playing football. My brother and his friends always played soccer on a field nearby. I then watched from the side with a ball under my foot.” In the joint youth academy, Scheperman plays together with Mees Hilgers, Daan Rots and Jayden Oosterwolde, players who have already played the necessary Eredivisie matches.
Internship
Scheperman also goes through all youth teams, is even allowed to train with the A-selection of FC Twente, but does not make it. Last January he was told by his then trainer Mark Looms, who was active in Almelo for twelve seasons, that he can show himself at Heracles to trainer Frank Wormuth. “I was allowed to train for an indefinite period of time. At first that would be a week, later it became two and three weeks. That all went pretty quickly. It was a restless time with corona and the Rai Vloet incident. Heracles is a quiet club where little happens, but then it was quite chaotic.”
Heracles is experiencing one of the most hectic times of recent decades at that time. Vloet causes a fatal accident, the club is relegated to the Kitchen Champion Division and technical director Tim Gilissen, who personally championed the arrival of Scheperman, had to clear the field. “His departure came quite out of nowhere,” Scheperman recalls. “It was kind of coming, but in my eyes he was a very good technical director. He put down a really good squad, knew how to deal with guys. He was also always honest with me, something I really need. But he was responsible and has been the victim of it, as it kind of works in football. It’s a shame, but everything happens for a reason.”
bankrupt
Scheperman says he learned a lot from his first year at Heracles. “I am someone who can shut himself off from peripheral matters. I’m not easily fooled. The focus is mainly on my own development. The experienced guys have helped me a lot with that. When I was still a kid, a lot of things happened. FC Twente almost went bankrupt at the time. In that respect, I’ve been through quite a bit as a youth player. You learn to become independent at a young age when you leave home.”
As a youngster, Scheperman experienced a lot, both at Heracles and FC Twente.
In Hengelo they were ‘unclear’ in the eyes of Scheperman. “They liked me, but they were missing something. They thought I was too lax. I have not yet shown that at Heracles, in my opinion,” said the midfielder. “I was especially happy that Heracles came and I could get started there.” Scheperman had not expected it to go so quickly in the end. “At the end of 2021 I was still in the Under 21. I don’t want to say that I was finished learning, but I was a bit done with it. I wanted to take a step up. It is good that Heracles came then. I didn’t expect to make so many minutes.”
Scheperman has played nine times this season, of which twice as a starting player. The club wants to calm him down. “So far it’s going well. They want me to become a permanent fixture in the foreseeable future and also to make minutes in the Eredivisie. In the long run, this should lead to a nice transfer and a nice amount for the club. I myself hope to have a basic place at the end of the season,” says Scheperman. “I feel like I’m close to basics. I’ve seen it a few times this season. That went with varying degrees of success. Marko Vejinovic and Thomas Bruns are a bit older, they won’t play all matches. My minutes will come. If I get the chance, I have to perform.”
Audience Favorite
It must be a strange sensation for the young Scheperman. He hardly plays, but is already regularly sung to Erve Asito. The supporters now seem to have embraced him. “I often get messages via Instagram from fans. Before and after the match. They’re chanting my name. Maybe it’s because I’m from close by? I don’t know. Usually I have to laugh. I know some of the guys in the audience, I played with them when I was a kid. Then I wave back. I’m not easily fooled, I’m a sober boy. They gave me that from home. It’s nice that people pay attention to you.”
Scheperman received the nicest message after his contract extension from a friend of his. “He doesn’t like short messages and sent a whole story on behalf of the friends about how proud they are. I gave an assist against VVV-Venlo, they were almost watching with tears in their eyes. That is very nice, it does me good.” For Scheperman it feels like a reward after years of hard work. “I think it’s underestimated how much you have to do for it. Also as a youth player. People just assume you can go out and spend a lot of time with friends. I left at six in the morning and came home at six thirty. You have to give up a lot. That I can now earn my living doing something I enjoy doing the most, I can only be proud of that. It was tough, but you do it for something.”
The native Deventer does not dare to predict where it will eventually lead. In his wildest dreams, he hopes to follow Frenkie de Jong, the player he most admires. “It is not normal what he is performing. Very impressive,” says Scheperman. “I try to see what he does with the ball. He has such an acceleration… I also think Gravenberch is really good. Six months ago we played with the reserves against the reserves of Ajax. I was at Gravenberch. How he turns away from an opponent… Always with the right speed and at the right time. He certainly has what it takes to make it at Bayern. It will be difficult, but in the long run it will work. If you get minutes, they see it in you. That also counts for me.”
Passport:
Name: Shem Scheperman
Club: Heracles Almelo
Age: 20
Position: midfielder
Length: 188 cm
Number of matches: 12
Strengths: physical, overview, passing
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
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