In The Trenches: It's Just A Sport

"It's just a sport" People tell me that all the time. But it's more than that. For me, football is such a huge part...

"It's just a sport"

People tell me that all the time. But it's more than that. For me, football is such a huge part of my life, I wouldn't know what to do without it. Whenever I'm not directly spending my time on football, I'm thinking about it, and looking forward to spending time on football. I have spent endless hours on football, but it has also given me so much back.

A big one for me is transport time. I live 30 km from our practice/game field. A year ago I trained with coach Klug at Pure Performance, 50 km from me, four times a week. At the moment I train there once a week, and do the rest of my physical training close to home. But every week I probably travel at least 250 km, just for about half of my training and practice.

There are a lot of different physical training programs out there, and just about the same amount of approaches to the subject. Right now I'm training almost everyday, slowly redirecting my focus from strength and muscle-mass to explosiveness and conditioning. But almost no matter what program you're on, it's gonna take a lot of hours in the gym and on the field. Strength training, agility, conditioning and of course football training. Not to mention film study and preparing food.

But what I get out of it? How about some of the best friends you can imagine? A group of guys that you go to war with 10+ times a year? There isn't a thing I wouldn't do for my teammates, and they have definitely been there for me too.

Experience. Few things can be compared to the physical and mental breakdown after a week of training camp. No disrespect to the military etc. But training camp is tough as f.... Last year I was in Sweden and Germany with the U19 national team, and definitely got some great experiences from it. Right now I'm planning a trip to the US, primarily to attend a football camp. But I'm also 100% positive that I'm gonna gonna experience great things during my time in the states.

I'm probably gonna move out this summer. Because I'm tired of my mom? No. Because I have to study in another city? No. Because of football? Hell yeah!

Football isn't just a sport. It's a huge part of my life. It takes and gives so much. I love football.

Daniel 'GG Watt' Gammelgaard