My trip to the World Cup 2023 hosted in Berlin
„Further development begins where the comfort zone ends.“ That was the title of my post, which I published before my trip to Berlin last week. What can I say? I’m back from out of my comfort zone and it’s been awesome. In fact, there are many reasons why. So what exactly is behind me?
The broadcast of 32 water polo games of the women’s and men’s national teams as a commentator in the live stream at the World Cup in Berlin, long warm days in an underground swimming pool, expandable catering and lots of great encounters with new and familiar people. Then there was a further training course for the trainers, which didn’t make the last two days of a long week in the hotel any easier. But here, too, there were highly interesting topics and many people who had been able to meet in person again for a long time. It was exhausting and challenging. I only knew roughly what to expect beforehand, but the way the days and evenings went by together with great other positively crazy people make the days in Berlin unforgettable.
All I can say bottom line is that it was incredibly beautiful outside of my comfort zone and I would do it again anytime. Outside of your personal comfort zone, with a growing audience, you also get comments where you notice that some people are showing their true faces humanly and morally and many masks are falling. You also have to get used to it a bit, not letting all of this get to you too much and “peeling an egg on many of the often anonymous comments”.
One asks oneself in many places, why are we doing this? Why do people get involved in something that we know hardly gets any public attention? Because we love our sport, the community, the people and everything related to it so much!
With this in mind, many thanks to all the people who were in Berlin, who made the World Cup what it was for everyone in the end. The technicians, the many people behind the scenes, referees, judges, volunteers, announcers, players, coaches and all those who unfortunately I didn’t list here.
See you soon somewhere else in this world, when it’s time to „get out of the comfort zone“ again!