Mareike Adermann: Bumps in the road to Frankfurt

It all began with having to finish my very last exams and projects to finish my bachelor’s degree within a week instead of two in order to go to Warm Springs, Georgia for a training camp and games against the US wheelchair basketball national team.

The past three weeks were probably the roughest I have been through in a while.

It all began with having to finish my very last exams and projects to finish my bachelor’s degree within a week instead of two in order to go to Warm Springs, Georgia for a training camp and games against the US wheelchair basketball national team.

However, the exams alone would have been too easy, so instead of being well on schedule, I injured my wrist and spent my time at doctors’ offices to find out if it was OK or not.

Luckily, I was able to get X-rays, MRI’s and doctors’ visits co-ordinated to know before leaving for Georgia that it was just a minor injury.

Nevertheless, the doctor advised me to take three weeks of rest but as our team is fortunate enough to have a team physician and physiotherapist, I chose “active rest” while being under their observation.

This meant that for the two practices a day, I only participated in the most important drills and sat out to watch and learn instead.

I usually hate sitting out and resting while my team prepares, but sometimes it is simply better to listen to the doctors.

Especially now, only a month away from our highlight of the summer – the IWBF Wheelchair Basketball European Championships in Frankfurt, Germany – it is important to allow my injuries to heal while still being involved and making sure I’m ready.

However, not being able to fully prepare with the team at this camp shows how important it is that I prepare myself well throughout the spring at home. Without already being fit it could be fatal not to work as hard as the team is supposed to at this point.

After five long days of training, we then began to play games against the US team. We split our 14 players into two squads of seven, and the US split their athletes as well to then give us additional playing time.

We had one game in the “half squads” and one as complete team each day for three days. The fourth day we finished with only one “full squad” game. All of these games added up to 10 games out of which we won nine, so it was a successful week for us.

After these tough two weeks, all of us are excited to return to our homes to sleep in our own comfy beds without all the insects that are very present in Georgia’s countryside and rest before we continue with one of our most important preparation tournaments in the Netherlands from 7-9 June.

We will get to play against the Netherlands and Great Britain, who along with us have been the top three European teams for many years now.

For me personally, that means a lot of travelling as I only returned to my apartment in Whitewater, Wisconsin in the USA for now and will have to fly back to Germany to then travel to the Netherlands.

Thus, the life of a busy athlete continues.

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