Mikey Kramer jets off to youth World Cup

A month ago Mikey Kramer was preparing to play out the remainder of the Northern Premier league season with Hamilton club side Melville United.
Last night, the 20-year-old former Tauranga Boys' College star defender flew out of Auckland with the Junior All Whites bound for the under-20 soccer World Cup in Colombia.
Kramer says his head's still spinning at his rapid elevation from club player to youth international on the world stage.
The former New Zealand secondary schools representative wasn't in the squad that qualified for Colombia by winning the Oceania group and then played matches in the Suwon International Cup in South Korea. He was recommended to national under-20 coach Chris Milicich by mentor and Melville youth coach Declan Edge.
Kramer knew he was being watched in several premier league games for Melville and won Milicich over. "New Zealand's produced some top quality defenders over the years and Mikey's a guy who has come back from overseas, had a couple of runs with the Waikato youth team, couldn't force his way into the Waikato first team but has continued to work daily with Declan Edge, who first alerted him to me," Milicich said last week.
"When I had a look at him I was surprised with his athleticism. He's probably the quickest defender in the entire squad."
Kramer played as a fullback last season in the Brisbane Premier League for Brisbane City but, after being converted to a centre-back for Melville, is sold on his new role.
He headed to Queensland with Josh Nelson, a midfielder with Tauranga City United, straight out of school, although Nelson's season was cut short when he was hit by a car. Kramer decided to chuck it in and head home just before Christmas.
"Josh and I went over straight out of school and after Josh got injured I kept going, playing 22 out of the club's 24 games. The level was pretty good, equivalent to the New Zealand Football Championship here and a step up from the club stuff I'm playing now.
"It was tempting to stay there but I wanted to train fulltime and Brisbane only trained twice a week. I'd heard about Declan's academy at Melville, went over for a week to try it out and loved it."
Edge isn't everyone's cup of tea but Kramer credits the former All White for encouraging his switch to centre-back. "I'm training 18 to 20 hours a week with Declan, twice a day six days a week, and my game's changed hugely under him. There's criticism about his regime but if you know him and you're around him every day then you're in the best position to comment.
"He's turning out some pretty decent players which is the best advertisement."
Kramer, a special talent picked for the first XI in his first year at Tauranga Boys' College, played for New Zealand under-15 in Vanuatu before making an about-turn, hanging up the boots for a couple of years to try volleyball. The change brought immediate dividends, with Kramer winning the national beach title and captaining the New Zealand junior men's indoor team.
"I loved volleyball for a time but then 7th form came along and I wasn't enjoying it as much and couldn't see myself making a career from it. It (switching to volleyball) probably gave me back my passion for football."
Kramer is one of seven new faces from the group that secured qualification heading to Colombia, where they're in the same group as Cameroon, Uruguay and Portugal. New Zealand has only been to an under-20 World Cup once before and didn't pick up a point.
They travel via the USA where they take on United Soccer League sides Southern California and Ventura County before moving on to Colombia, where Kramer is hoping to get good game time to push for a start at the World Cup.
 Junior All Whites squad
Goalkeepers: Stefan Marinovic (SV Wehen Wiesbaden, Germany), Scott Basalaj (Lower Hutt City), Coey Turipa (Brisbane Wolves).
Defenders: Nick Branch (Central United), Nikko Boxall (Central United), Anthony Hobbs (Waitakere City), James Musa (Waitakere City), Luke Rowe (unattached), Mikey Kramer (Melville United), Liam Higgins (Lower Hutt City).
Midfielders: Ryan Cain (Western Suburbs), Cameron Lindsay (Blackburn Rovers, England), Andrew Milne (Auckland City), Colin Murphy (Onehunga Sports), Marco Rojas (Melbourne Victory), Adam Thomas (Melville United).
Forwards: Andrew Bevin (Napier City Rovers), Sean Lovemore (Onehunga Sports), Ethan Galbraith (Lower Hutt City), Tim Payne (Waitakere City), Dakota Lucas (Waitakere City).