Excellent Gundogan article in New York Times

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Josh_D said:
OK, I enjoyed that. Like a poster inferred, it's a shame you don't get to see written pieces like this done by British journalists. This reminds me of when I had a horrific injury in my teens. Although, I don't do sports now, I always wanted to be an athlete. When it happened, after the recovery and everything, my right leg was never the same. I was told by doctors I would be able to walk, and do normal activities but that was it. The career of a footballer is a very short one. So I can understand how it feels whenever they have injuries. Glad Ilkay is back playing again.
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Similar thing happened to me. I was a promising footballer and as soon as I was being scouted I began to suffer from a condition called chondromalacia patellae, caused basically by playing too much sport during an intense growth spurt. Thigh bond started to wear away at my cartilage and knee cap and I let it get worse and worse; ended up with an operation and about 11 months off sport.

What did me was that I just sulked about it and gave up; hated watching my mates play whilst I just sat on the side. Fair to say I probably suffered depression. I didn't do the exercises I was supposed to do and inevitably my knee was never the same again. I think what separates the wheat from the chaff - and essentially what professional athletes have - is that dogged determination to overcome a setback. They are mentally strong, much more than we give them credit for. Gundogan seems to have that quality in spades.
 
Josh_D said:
OK, I enjoyed that. Like a poster inferred, it's a shame you don't get to see written pieces like this done by British journalists. This reminds me of when I had a horrific injury in my teens. Although, I don't do sports now, I always wanted to be an athlete. When it happened, after the recovery and everything, my right leg was never the same. I was told by doctors I would be able to walk, and do normal activities but that was it. The career of a footballer is a very short one. So I can understand how it feels whenever they have injuries. Glad Ilkay is back playing again.
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Have a look at the blizzard, you'll see similar long-form interviews and articles delivered by some familiar faces who churn out shite every week. A lot of it is down to demand and click based advertising etc.
 
I noted there is a lot of footage he collected during his recovery...hopefully city can put this together as a mini series/documentary for the you tube page.
 
I'm not a professional athlete by any means but loved my sport, did something almost daily until i suffered numerous serious knee injuries simultaneously including what happened to Gundogan quite a few years back now so have some idea what he went through and he has my deepest sympathy.

It has stopped me from doing any kind of sport/strenuous exercise since and i'm still not right to this day but that initial recovery was brutal! I literally had to learn to walk again, had more than 1 setbacks which were crushing and mentally draining above anything which i imagine only multiplies ten fold for a professional athlete. Great to see him back, I'm sure with the support the club has available he'll be 100% and ready psychologically too. Hopefully he gets a good few years completely injury free now and makes sure we never forget his name for years to come.
 
che_don_john said:
Similar thing happened to me. I was a promising footballer and as soon as I was being scouted I began to suffer from a condition called chondromalacia patellae, caused basically by playing too much sport during an intense growth spurt. Thigh bond started to wear away at my cartilage and knee cap and I let it get worse and worse; ended up with an operation and about 11 months off sport.

What did me was that I just sulked about it and gave up; hated watching my mates play whilst I just sat on the side. Fair to say I probably suffered depression. I didn't do the exercises I was supposed to do and inevitably my knee was never the same again. I think what separates the wheat from the chaff - and essentially what professional athletes have - is that dogged determination to overcome a setback. They are mentally strong, much more than we give them credit for. Gundogan seems to have that quality in spades.
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You're right about that. That dogged determination is the key. It also made my injury worse. Like you I stopped everything. I just enjoy life sampling food from different countries I travel to. Shame we didn't get to sing bluemoon for you.
 
Josh_D said:
You're right about that. That dogged determination is the key. It also made my injury worse. Like you I stopped everything. I just enjoy life sampling food from different countries I travel to. Shame we didn't get to sing bluemoon for you.
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Haha, unfortunately I was some way off (in terms of ability and also location) - Luton, Peterborough, Northampton and Cambridge Utd were the ones looking at me. Funnily enough, the injury made me technically a better player - touch, positioning and passing got so much better as I couldn't rely on pace and power any more - but I just lost so much strength and couldn't handle the pace of games at that level (I was also soft - one mistake or being moaned at, and my game just fell apart). I guess that's why injuries like ACL can ruin careers - the loss in physicality and the anxiety over it happening again makes it so hard to compete and last 90 minutes.

Another thing I learned from that experience and playing at a low-end semi-pro level in my late teens was that the defining attribute pro-level/academy players had (aside from talent) was aggression. Their will to win (terrible losers) was immense and the way they tried to win the ball was ferocious. I've seen lads who ability-wise were far better than those I knew who got to academy level and higher, but they lacked mental strength and aggression. Even someone like Gundogan, who appears very calm and mild, will still have a huge amount of aggression (albeit controlled). You can't get close to that level without it, nor can you overcome an injury like ACL. He's a top player and a top bloke, and I really hope he can fulfill his potential with us.
 
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