Athlet in Krisenzeiten

Das Corona-Virus sorgte für viele Veränderungen im Alltag der meisten Menschen. Dazu gehören auch sportliche Aktivitäten, welche vom Statt für eine Zeit vollständig heruntergefahren wurden. Nun fragt man sich, wie Profisportler mit dieser Situation klarkamen. Schließlich standen sowohl ihr Beruf als auch ihre Existenz auf dem Spiel. Roedion Henrique wird im im folgenden Interview seine Erfahrungen aus dieser Zeit teilen.

How did the outbreak first get to you and how did you first find out about it?

I heard about it through the news and everything that there was a virus going around. When I came to Germany in March, there was not a lot going on with the virus, but you heard about it from China. As we got ready for our football season, we started hearing about the coronavirus being out here and people started getting infected. So we started taking protocols within the invaders organization.

It really started to affect us when we had to take precautions at practice, which meant for us that we had to follow certain rules to avoid an infection with the coronavirus.

What do you think about the past and recent restrictions put in place by the German government?

I don’t think it was perfect, but the German country had it under control most of the time. They did not have a lot of cases compared to the country’s size. The restrictions were more like recommendations, so this made it a lot easier for the people to follow and not get affected by the pandemic.

Where there some restrictions, which where not understandable for you?

I don’t think so. There were no like crazy rules.

How would you compare the restrictions in Germany with other countries?

The German society follows more rules than the Dutch people. In Amsterdam for example the people didn’t really follow the recommendation and that’s what made the difference. For other countries, I heard that Italy, the country which was most affected by the coronavirus, was really strict with it’s restrictions. Like you couldn’t go outside after 8 or something like that. These were some really “heavy” rules. But again the difference was in the people following and listening to the rules, so they did not have to put up these kinds of restrictions in Germany.

Was your practice canceled due to the virus?

Our practice got canceled for a little bit. Afterwards we had to change our approach moving forward. We were not allowed to practice with the whole team. Instead we worked out in small groups. Also we had to wear long sleeves and keep our distance during practice.

Did you stay in contact with your coaches outside of practice?

Since we were not allowed to have normal group meetings as well when our practice was canceled, we started having “Zoom”-meetings online just through the webcam. The coaches explained some things online through the computer. But these were just small meeting, which we are now still having because it’s effective and everybody is able to come together in one place.

Since the gyms were closed, have you been able to work out during the lockdown?

I had to start doing home workouts because of the gym of course. No weights, basically just resistance training with the resistance bands and bodyweight workouts. This way I could kind of implement lifting weights back into my workouts. Also I went outside to the field a little bit to do some extra stuff, because again we could not practice with the whole team. So you had to do most on your own. These were mainly my workouts I did during lockdown.

Would you say it was hard for you to stay inside more or just to go outside less during this time?

To be honest, having the good weather outside would make it a little hard at times. Just because: “Alright it’s good weather let me try to go do something”, but then you have got to pay attention to the regulations.

Did you have to change or create a new daily routine?

It certainly did affect my routine. Because I’m an athlete, there were certain things like the workouts. I couldn’t go to the gym, so I had to adjust. Instead of going to gym I was doing home workouts. I had to be a little more disciplined doing almost everything on my own. I’ve been doing it on my own before, but now you it’s like you have got to put it together and make it work on your own.

Was thereanything new you started doing during the lockdown?

I started to go jogging later, I’d say around night time. I would go for a little run, because I was inside a lot on some days. Now that I can go and do more outside, I’m not doing it anymore. Still it was pretty nice. Music in my ear and go jogging.

How did you feel about your preparation for potential games?

I was prepared for what was to come, because I already played here last year. My mindset was ready, but then because of the pandemic my body was not. We couldn’t really practice that much yet and I had to stay inside a lot doing home workouts instead of practicing. So again mentally I was ready having the “Zoom”- meetings and going over some things in detail, but physically I wasn’t.

Das Interview wurde mit Roedion „Dion“ Henrique, ehemaliger New Mexico State University Student-Athlet und professioneller American Football Spieler in Deutschland, geführt. Er wurde auf Curacao geboren und wuchs dort auf bis er mit seiner Familie später nach Amsterdam zog. 2019 spielte er für die GFL-Mannschaft der Hildesheim Invaders und schaffte es mit ihnen bis in die Playoffs.

Timo Vogel

Quelle: Roedion Henrique

Bild: https://pixabay.com/photos/stadium-american-football-sports-741476/

Interview geführt am: 20.10.2021

Datum: 15.1.2021