Let me tell you about a normal day in the German camp. You already know that we go jogging with the security forces in the morning after breakfast. but there is also a certain routine to everything. Sometimes we have training, sometimes we are in meetings and then of course we also have free time.
For that reason, our management always ensures that we have something like a team room, where we can meet up. It is not only used for team meetings but also for our leisure: We have got a table tennis set with us and started to play cricket when we were at the last Champion’s Trophy in Melbourne on our floor of the hotel. However, the layout of the Meridien is a bit different, this is not possible. We can play cricket in the hotel garden – of course again accompagnied by security forces.
In Germany, cricket is not played a lot, I would say almost not at all, there are only very few clubs. With my roommate Florian Woesch I also play a lot of Playstation or we watch videos in our room. In the meeting room we have started a 3000-piece jigsaw-puzzle – underwater world – and Florian and I started it at first when we arrived but we did not perform so well in our practice games so we got excluded and the coach took over – and ever since we have been happy with the way that has been handled, because now we are both playing better.
Then we have lunch, and our doctor insists that we use disinfectant on our hands before each meal. It is seen to that this is always done, because of course our stomachs are not used to the hot food and are always a bit unsettled already. However, I really like Indian food, but more in the adapted European way, not with so many spices as it is cooked here. Afterwards we mostly have video analysis.
I really enjoy playing at this level as it is a completely new experience for me, you play against the best players in the world now in contrast to when you are playing still in the U21 team. Also my role is so different, I am not leading the team here but play just a part in the team. We are a young side and only eight of this side played in Beijing and only three were in the side that won the last World Cup.Everyone of us are putting our best in front of the huge crowd here.
There is something uniquely German, too, which we have in the meeting room. If we are hungry we can there have a „ZwiMa“ which means a snack in-between meals. It was not so easy to find a place where we can buy things nor food that we are used to like in Germany. Our embassy is really good in helping us out. They eventually found something that delighted us. Would you believe it not, not in the big supermarket but in a small local place. The embassy has been really great in helping us and we ended up buying cheese and sausage and even got a German baker who provides us with real German bread.
It is always good to have a little piece of home when you are away. It helps us to play well.