"I love this style of play!"
Friday morning was relatively chilled out for our players. After five sessions since arriving at St. George’s Park, as well as more time spent in the gym, Sandro Schwarz rewarded the boys with a morning off. It’s straight back to work after lunch, though, before a pair of games on Saturday. Jurgen Ekkelenkamp kindly offered his free time for a chat with herthabsc.com, though the interview was certainly less challenging than one of Hendrik Kuchno’s sessions. “We are getting ready as best we can for the new season and a part of that is lots of running and work on our stamina,” says the 22-year-old. We settled in a cosy corner of the hotel lobby to discuss the strains of preseason, the new head coach and Ekkelenkamp’s ambitions for his second season in Berlin.
herthabsc.com: Jurgen, we’ll start with the most important question of all. How are your legs?
Ekkelenkamp: (grins) All good, thanks. It’s tough but that’s a part of life. We are getting ready as best we can for the new season and a part of that is lots of running and work on our stamina. But I always love when the ball is in play. The conditions are here are perfect, the pitches really are excellent.
herthabsc.com: Head coach Sandro Schwarz and his staff are putting a lot of effort into keeping training broad and varied. What are your first impressions of the new boss?
Ekkelenkamp: That’s right. The sessions are all put together differently with the real onus being on various different things each time. That challenges us as players and I like that. This is the end of my second week of training after having played in the international games and so far he’s made a really good impression. Our new coach values high pressing as well as precise build-up play. There aren’t so many long balls. I love this style of play, it really suits me. The thing I love most is linking the play in the middle, as a number ten or in a deeper role if that’s where the coach selects me.
herthabsc.com: You’ve said it yourself – your first season in Germany had its ups and downs. What have you learned from your time in Berlin so far?
Ekkelenkamp: Last season was tough for the club and everyone involved. Us players weren’t satisfied and neither were the fans, obviously. We had three head coaches and we only survived right at the last. In hindsight it was a really valuable lesson for me though, both in football and in life. In the end it’s the first time I’ve been away from home. Berlin is a great city and my girlfriend and I feel really comfortable here.
herthabsc.com: And what expectations do you have for your sophomore year?
Ekkelenkamp: I want to get more playing time, be important for the team and a regular starter. For us as a team it’s all about growing together as a unit, integrating the new lads and putting the coaching staff’s ideas into practice nice and quickly. We don’t want to spend our time looking back – we just want to have a good season. It’s important for us to now play with fresh legs in the friendlies in England while also building up our strength. And matches are always more fun than training! (grins)