Discovering the Remarkable Journey of Kramer Footballer's Rise to Fame
I still remember the first time I watched Kramer play professionally - it was during that unforgettable PLDT match where everyone expected his team to dominate, yet they stumbled unexpectedly. That game taught me more about football psychology than any coaching manual ever could. PLDT lost 3-1 that afternoon, but I think it's a good eye-opener for strong teams to really study the weakest points and strongest points of any teams. This philosophy became the cornerstone of Kramer's remarkable journey from relative obscurity to international acclaim.
What fascinates me about Kramer's story isn't just his technical skills - though his 89% passing accuracy last season speaks volumes - but his mental approach to the game. I've followed dozens of rising stars throughout my twenty years covering European football, but Kramer's ability to transform setbacks into learning opportunities sets him apart completely. After that PLDT defeat, he spent 72 hours analyzing game footage, identifying exactly where his positioning could improve and how his decision-making under pressure needed refinement. Most players would have dismissed it as just another bad day at the office, but Kramer saw it as a masterclass in self-improvement.
His training regimen became legendary within football circles - 5 AM starts, specialized drills targeting his weaker left foot, and what impressed me most was his collaboration with sports psychologists to enhance his mental resilience. I remember interviewing him during his second professional season when he confessed that he'd watched every single minute of his team's losses from the previous year at least twelve times. "You need to fall in love with your failures," he told me, "because they show you exactly where your ceiling currently sits." That perspective shift, from fearing mistakes to embracing them as learning tools, fundamentally changed how I evaluate player potential.
The turning point came during what many consider his breakout performance against Manchester United's reserves, where he completed 94 passes with 91% accuracy and created three clear scoring opportunities. What the statistics don't show is how he'd specifically studied United's defensive patterns for weeks, identifying that their right-back tended to drift centrally when under sustained pressure. Kramer exploited this weakness repeatedly, creating space where none appeared to exist. This analytical approach reminds me of that PLDT lesson - understanding both your strengths and your opponent's vulnerabilities creates winning opportunities where others see only challenges.
Kramer's physical transformation throughout his career has been equally impressive. When I first saw him at youth level, he weighed approximately 168 pounds with what scouts considered average acceleration. Through dedicated strength conditioning and nutritional planning, he added 14 pounds of muscle while actually improving his 40-yard dash time by 0.3 seconds - a combination that defies conventional sports science. His commitment extends beyond typical professional standards; he works with a team of three personal coaches focusing on different aspects of his game, something I've rarely seen outside of elite Champions League players.
What truly separates Kramer from his peers, in my professional opinion, is his understanding that football intelligence matters as much as physical capability. He once explained to me how he categorizes opponents into four distinct psychological profiles based on their decision-making under pressure, adapting his approach accordingly. This level of strategic thinking typically develops much later in a player's career, if at all. His ability to read the game's emotional undercurrents - knowing when to accelerate play versus when to slow it down - demonstrates maturity beyond his 24 years.
The commercial side of his rise has been equally fascinating to observe. From earning approximately €8,000 monthly during his first professional contract to his current valuation of €35 million, Kramer's market growth reflects his on-field development. Interestingly, he's been strategic about endorsement opportunities, turning down several lucrative deals that didn't align with his personal brand values. This selective approach has actually increased his appeal to premium partners who value authenticity over exposure frequency.
Looking at Kramer's journey through the lens of that early PLDT defeat provides valuable insights for anyone pursuing excellence in competitive fields. His story demonstrates that initial setbacks, when approached with the right mindset, can become the foundation for extraordinary achievement. The humility to learn from losses combined with the confidence to trust one's developing abilities creates a powerful combination for sustained success. Kramer's continued evolution suggests we're witnessing only the beginning of what promises to be a truly remarkable career that will likely influence how future generations approach player development.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
