Sterre Kroezen: ”With Ballher I want to show that women can do a lot with a football”

“In the photoshoot, I’m portrayed as an actress,” says Kroezen. ”I think that’s really cool, standing in the spotlight for a moment. I’ve done a photoshoot before, but that was for a sportswear brand. It wasn’t as big as this one. I’d like to try being an actress one day, but becoming as famous as a Hollywood star wouldn’t be my thing.”

”In PEC Zwolle’s dressing room, we don’t talk about fashion much. That was different at my previous club, FC Twente. There, you had girls who were always dressed tiptop. I feel more comfortable on a football pitch or a playground than in front of a camera, to be honest. I’ve been playing football since I was five. In the beginning, I was on and off, but later I stayed for the long haul. It’s the classic story: starting out in boys’ teams and later moving into a proper girls’ team.”

Ballher

“I’ve just launched my own platform called Ballher. It’s meant to inspire other boys and girls to learn football tricks. In tutorials, I show the tricks I can do. Eventually, I want to record challenges with other pros—that’s the most fun. I’ve already done that with Daphne van Domselaar and Renate Jansen. I can also imagine collaborating with players abroad in the future.”

”Making videos for social media started during the pandemic. I spent endless hours practising tricks. I wouldn’t go inside until I had mastered one. Most of the time, it was behind our house or at playgrounds. There was even a Johan Cruyff Court nearby. At school, I spent every break playing football, and after school too. I could do it for hours on end. Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are two of my biggest inspirations. With Ballher, I want to show that women can do incredible things with a football too.”

Arabic

“Ultimately, I want to gain as many followers as possible from all around the world. I recently noticed viewers from Brazil, for example. I think it’s something new—women doing tricks too. That’s the idea behind it. People think it’s cool; I get a lot of comments in different languages, like Japanese and Arabic. Girls even DM me with: ‘Look what I can do.’”

”With my training videos, I also want to inspire trainers and coaches. It’s fun to receive feedback. By now, responding to everyone has become a full-time job, and recording content takes a lot of time too. Luckily, my mum helps me record. She does so much for me, and we always have a great time during the shoots. She’s also pretty good at football herself—she used to play for an amateur club.”

”That entrepreneurial spirit runs in my family. We had a business representing a regional dealership for a well-known earthmoving equipment brand. But that’s not a direction I want to go in myself.”

If you want to read the full interview with Sterre Kroezen, order ISSUE 83 now.