Back in Augsburg

So I am back on the train headed back to Augsburg after just four days up near Gelsenkirchen. However the experience was a great one and truly one that will allow me to have confidence going into the future. After Tuesday’s session I felt pretty tired, but was energized for Wednesdays Morning sessions with Schalke II’s full team. As mentioned earlier, Tuesday’s session was only with Goalkeepers. You can see the pedigree that each of these guys come from, they are huge in comparison…6’3” 200+ lbs and athletic as hell. It’s pretty imposing but you hold your own and ear respect. There was an obvious level of comfort with each drill however I felt good about my performance. Anyways, at Wednesday’s session, I arrived around 9:30am and got changed into my get-up for the day. The practice started with a 30-minute team meeting, that I understood little of, then down to the field for a 10 minutes job with and without the ball around the field. After a bit of stretching the trainer Oliver called out the GK’s to go get warmed up…I was the only one to step out. What was going on? Where is the rest of the group? I was confused but went on and warmed up with an assistant by the name of Sven. As I’ve discussed in the past on my blog, everyone is really nice, and it is no different with the fussball guys. They understand your situation and just want to see what you got. That warm-up lasted about 10 minutes as the full-team did a crossing drill to two small goals for a bit. After that a drill was set up to work on 1v1 situations with a defender. Imagine the 18-yard box with each team of the 2 lining up at the edge of the box even with the goal. I would roll a ball out after a command to the middle and the opposite teams would sprint to win the ball, whoever got their first, went to goal…if you lost you defended. It was a pretty fun drill, that got expanded to 2v2 and I did well so I was encouraged. Practice ended with a conversation with a guy named Jonas who plays in Norway that was just training with the team, very nice guy who actually has a friend that plays for UIC.... we talked about the league and contacts and we will see if Norway is in the cards for me in the future. The trainer drove me home that day and we talked about everything but soccer, which was nice. As he dropped me off he told me to come to practice again the next morning with the team and head to GK training afterwards. I was pretty excited to keep being given these opportunities to continue training but realized that getting ahead of myself was far from possible. Nevertheless I headed to training that next morning. It was at the stadium where the second team plays its games, pretty cool old little stadium. Man, was it hot! I have been limited to training only a few times in the last few weeks and I definitely felt it that day. We started by doing a coned warm-up drill that seemed to last for maybe 15 minutes. Afterwards, Lars, another GK and I warmed-up for maybe 10-15 more minutes. We were then called into a drill that once again simulated 1v1 opportunities. However, this time there was no defender and it eventually turned into 2v1. It was from a through ball so it was constant sprinting up to cut down angles to a dive, back to the line…repeat. After 10 minutes I was gassed and it showed in my positioning and technique. I was too tired to continue at the pace I was looking for. Nevertheless, I wasn’t too happy with that session, but what can you do. After the session, Dennis, an agent who has been in contact with my brother got my attention from the stands. Great, I was hoping that he wasn’t there that day seeing as I wasn’t happy with the way I performed, but he was.ehh it’s fine. Anyways, immediately Lars and I traveled to the Arena for GK training. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to do this for another 1-2 hours. We did a lot of the same drills that we did on Tuesday, and I actually did really well. I was a lot happier in the afternoon than I was in the morning. I spoke with the GK trainer, who had another really German name that I can’t remember at the moment. He asked me if I was still going to be there tomorrow, but informed me that tomorrow (now today) was the last day of GK training before they had to make a decision on their four keepers. I knew that this was the end of the road for my training with Schalke, but I was totally content with what I did. I could still hope as Andreas was going to talk to the coach on Friday. Thursday turned out to be a very, very long day. I had left the house at 12:30, had team training at 2:30, GK Training at 4:30, and now had to take a 1ish hour train ride that I had never taken before back out to Hagen so Bianka could pick me up. I didn’t end up getting home till about 9 p.m and was so tired. I had to eat since I was starving and could barely stand…It always seems that whenever I am extra tired, I have no problem staying up late. Andreas arrived home around 11ish and told me to plan on heading to Frankfurt in the morning so I got ready to leave. However, on Tuesday, my cousin Bernd called me and informed me that Bernd Meier, the former 1860 GK that I trained with earlier in the trip had called him saying that a team in the Oberliga (6t division) was looking for a goalie. So I have decided to head to NederBayern once again to give it a try. After Andreas spoke to the coach at Schalke, we talked about what they thought of me, and their decision. Andreas told me they thought I was good enough to play in Germany’s 3rd or 4th division, which was a huge boost of confidence. In either of these leagues, soccer as a main source of income would be available, and to hear such a prediction from guys that are so high in the German structure really made me pretty happy. Although those are just words, I can take a lot from it. Also, they know who I am and how I play now, I will for the moment and maybe for some time be in their minds should anything every happen, or if a team comes calling in need of a GK. So that is awesome. Nevertheless, I am currently on the last leg of my return train and cant wait to see my family from the south again…it will be good to see some familiar faces. We will see what the next week or so holds. I think it will be pretty instrumental in my trip over here. If nothing works out with Oberhausen, or if I don’t get an opportunity to go anywhere else to apply my trade, then my voyage may be done. As always, I am missing home and more each day. Especially my girlfriend, not having anyone to share this with is sad in some respects but distance makes the heart grow fonder right? A quick shout-out to my guys from LUC. They have a game vs. Oakland at the National Soccer festival in Ft. Wayne, Indiana tonight and then head to Omaha, Nebraska to take on highly ranked Creighton in the season opener for both teams. Would be amazing to play at that place on opening night. I wish nothing but the best for those guys…they’re going to do some amazing things this year…just watch. Too much talent and experience not to. Before I finish this blog, I want to thank the Pokorny family for their kindness and help throughout this entire process. They went far and beyond what was needed and I am grateful. Hope everyone is doing well back home and all is well.
Ciao,
Brian