Soccer Manifesto, Part 2

With a Week of Training Under My Belt...

Right now, I couldn't be happier about my soccer situation. I arrived in Germany with a soccer club prepared to take me in, but I knew little else about what to expect. The club was DJK Bad Homburg, and I was slated to play for the Jugund-A squad--the U18 team. Other than that, I did not know my practice or game schedule, any teammates, or what level of play to expect.

Now I am going to pause for a minute and talk about the soccer culture in Germany. The energy and passion that the sport receives is comparable only to American football, but even that is not a fair comparison. Here, everyone knows the sport. Even the youngest members in the youth club programs seem to have an understanding for the positioning, movement, and artistry that goes into the game. And the sheer number of players at every level is astounding. In Bad Homburg, a small city of 52,000 residents, there are five club programs that boast eight levels of youth teams and two adult team for boys and girls, men and women. That's nearly a hundred teams. I'm not saying that Germany is the soccer capital of the world; I'm simply explaining the environment that I've thrown myself into.

DJK Bad Homburg turf field

The season here has just begun, so although I missed a few training sessions, it was the perfect time to arrive. My first practice was last Tuesday. I met my coach Karim, got introduced to my teammates, and started kicking around--definitely sizing up the abilities of my German counterparts. I noticed some things right away and others only after a week of training. First, the skill sets of the German footballers are slightly different than those of Americans. My teammates were not all that much bigger, faster, and stronger than last year's Greylock team, and they often had a poor first touch or a weak left foot. However, their creativity with the ball and their ability to use every part of their body impressed me.

Slowly, I started picking up on the style of play. I learned the hard way that possession is first and foremost; putting yourself or your teammate in a risky situation is to be avoided at all costs. There is a greater emphasis on the flow of the game than on hard-nosed defending. I have grown up playing fast--always thinking ahead, always ready to make a quick move and then send a ball forward that starts the attack. While I was able to use some of my vision to create plays, I soon realized that I could not force passes forward. The pace of the game here tends to fluctuate much more than in America. Short swells of speed often give way to stagnant passing in the back and midfield before another attack can begin. I will be forced to cut down on turnovers and learn to recognize that the correct pass is often a simple one.

I began to really understand the different style during a Men's Team scrimmage last Friday night. I train twice a week with the DJK men in addition to my junior team. The First Team plays a serious league schedule and features a starting lineup that I would compare to a DIII college team. I got to play center back for the Second team--a mix of fairly skilled guys who don't quite have the fitness level to play competitive 90 minute games. Still, young and old, these guys understand the game. I loved facing off against the fastest and most skilled First Team forwards, and it just so happened that my team pulled off a 1-0 victory. If I can be a part of scrimmages like that for my four months here, I'll certainly improve in a lot of ways.

Matches begin this week. I'll write about soccer again after I get a judgement on what league play will be like.