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"I didn't have gloves, plus thick cleats, but it was cool"

Kasim Edebali is stressed.

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"I didn't have gloves, plus thick cleats, but it was cool"

Kasim Edebali is stressed. Between training in the gym and the next appointment, the 33-year-old calls WELT from Uber. It's nine thirty in the morning in Germany. Edebali, who actually lives in the USA, is currently visiting Munich. Just like the National Football League. For five years he played or coached in the NFL, was under contract with a total of eight different teams across the USA. A lifelong dream that Edebali wrote about in his recently published book "Dream Chaser".

Edebali, born in Hamburg as the son of a US soldier and a German-Turkish mother, can look back on a long football career that began on the rainy pitches of the Hanseatic city. Through high school and college, the six-foot-tall, 250-pound defensive end earned a roster spot with the New Orleans Saints in 2014.

WORLD: Mr. Edebali, the NFL is visiting Munich on Sunday. It is the first official game of the league in Germany.

Kasim Edebali: It's kind of an accumulation of emotions. There's been so much hype in the last few years. Football just got bigger. The love of the fans for the sport always impresses me. On Sunday, several generations have the chance to watch an NFL game live in Germany. This is a big deal, especially for children and young people. They see the sport for the first time and say to themselves: Someday I'll play in the NFL too.

WORLD: Why are so many people in Germany fascinated by football?

Edebali: The fans in Germany now have teams they root for. There are many players who can tell an interesting story. This allows viewers to identify with the stars. In addition, football works differently than soccer. Every year teams have the chance to get better through the draft. For me it's the best sport in the world.

WORLD: You yourself started at a time when sport was still very small in Germany. What memories do you have of your first training session?

Edebali: At the very first training session in Hamburg, I just watched and thought: 'Okay, the boys are a class above me'. We then did a winter training camp indoors in Kiel. What I particularly remember is how we trained outside for the first time. I got there in my Deichmann cleats, thinking I was Deion Sanders. Just a superstar. I felt really cool, I looked like a little Plumms. (laughs)

WORLD: How was your team equipped back then?

Edebali: The equipment was adventurous. For example, I didn't have any gloves, and I wore these really thick cleated shoes, which are actually only suitable for the heavy guys from the offensive line. But I didn't care, it was just cool. Football practice made me feel the same way love does for the first time. Everyone knows that. I came to practice and giggled. It was pure and sincere.

WORLD: How did you follow the NFL back then, in the early 2000s?

Edebali: The NFL was actually only known for the video game 'NFL Madden'. I actually never watched a real football game when I was young, I just played on the console. So I knew all the players. That was NFL for me. Back then, you chose your favorite players based on the ratings from the video game.

WORLD: In your book you tell how you saw your first NFL in Atlanta in 2000. What memories do you have of the day?

Edebali: Honestly, as a kid, a football game is quite long. I looked everywhere but at the game. But I can still remember everything very clearly. My first game of the season as an NFL pro with the New Orleans Saints was also in Atlanta many years later. When I was down on the field, I remembered exactly where I had sat in the stands as a child. I recognized everything, unbelievable.

WORLD: A formative experience.

Edebali: I will never forget this feeling, this energy. It's not just in football. Especially as a child, encounters and moments are memorable, especially when there is positive energy. You soak up the impressions like a sponge and save them for life. My memories of the Atlanta game were like a snowball that just kept growing over time.

WORLD: That is probably also the hope of the NFL for the game in Munich.

Edebali: I'm sure Sunday's game will have a similar effect. A few people say: We made it. But for me it's only just beginning. I think the game is just the first big step of many.

WORLD: The NFL is involved in many other activities related to the game, for example by presenting the contactless version of flag football in schools. How do you currently see football in Germany?

Edebali: Of course, you always want American conditions, where children start playing football at the age of seven. But that's just not the reality in Germany, here you just start later. Flag Football is perfect for understanding the basics of the game. The advantage of this disembodied variant is that the children are not penalized because they may have tackled incorrectly. The possible fear of physical contact also plays no role. It's a much easier start once you're comfortable with the game, and then add a helmet and protective gear.

WORLD: What was it like for you when you had to take the first hard hits in training?

Edebali: It's like everything else in life: If you want to achieve something, then nothing is easy. When you've fallen in love with something and then you feel that there are some obstacles in your way, you usually get that bite of wanting to achieve your goal. Then something big happens.

WORLD: You started football relatively late. Before that you did gymnastics and martial arts. How was it with your teammates in the US?

Edebali: Most of my NFL teammates all started playing real football at the age of five, six, seven. I was 15 when I played my junior year and started with hard tackles. Still, I don't feel like I missed anything. Good work is already being done in Germany. Even if you are 28 years old, you can start. Of course, then you will most likely not make it into the NFL. But if there's a football team nearby, why not start at 28? Football is more than the sport, it's about the brotherhood, the team spirit.

WORLD: At what moments did you particularly feel this feeling in your career?

Edebali: I don't know where I would be in my life if I didn't get the advice from the older guys. The experienced team-mates who made sure that I always stayed grounded, that I made an effort in every training session. I am convinced that this team spirit will make you a better person.

WORLD: The competition in the NFL is considered particularly tough. Hundreds of players fight for the coveted squad places in the summer, and a career in the league is often not very long. How does that fit together?

Edebali: Of course the competition plays a role. It's not easy to assert yourself mentally and physically in this sport. Especially in the professional field. There are so many stressful variables that as a player you try to absorb the human stuff. Of course there are players that you don't like that much. But 99 percent of the time, it's because you know everyone else in your cabin has been pushing as hard as you have their whole life. Or you meet people who have faced even greater obstacles. You can also feel this community in the professional area.

WORLD: In your first NFL season you knocked down superstar Aaron Rodgers twice in a game against the Green Bay Packers.

Edebali: You work towards it all your life, but at that moment everything is empty. You drive 200 kilometers per hour, but practically at idle. At that time they said: Kasim, go in! And then I was so focused on everything around me that I didn't think about anything else. The only thing that went through my head was: If the ball moves, then I move. If the tackle goes backwards, a pass will come. The tackle goes backwards. Kasim, run! All of a sudden I felt myself being hit from left and right and then Aaron Rodgers, big as a bull, was standing in front of me. I would have tried to knock him over with my little toe too. Then I grabbed him.

WORLD: You last played in the ELF for the Hamburg Sea Devils. How do you imagine the difference between football in the USA and here in Europe?

Edebali: (laughs) How should I say that? One is like playing cops and robbers at school, the other like meeting a professional hitman. I've said many times: The difference between me and other players in the ELF isn't that I'm bigger, stronger or faster. I was often the smallest and lightest player on the defensive line, 80 percent of my teammates were more athletic than me. But I learned a lot and trained six times a week for over 15 years. The NFL doesn't necessarily have the most talented football players in the world, but the best-trained ones.

WORLD: Do you have an example of this?

Edebali: As soon as the ball moved, everything happened instinctively because these processes were hammered into me in thousands of training sessions. When it comes to a play in the NFL, no one guesses what might happen next. But then it says: I watched 30 hours of video material in the week before the game, so I know when my opponent's right foot is in front, he is standing on the field in this position, two running backs are waiting in the backfield, then he is lying down the 78 percent chance that he runs exactly this route and no other. This attention to detail makes the difference.

WORLD: A topic related to the Munich game is the immense logistical effort that the league and teams put into it. Especially the long journey for the players. What is your experience?

Edebali: I didn't play a London game in the NFL, but when we came from the north and had to go to San Francisco, that was a four-and-a-half-hour flight. That's not much fun. You get out of your rhythm, you have to deal with the time change, you have to adapt again and again. Footballers are routine people. They can tell you that at 12:52 they ate three grapes. Therefore, these long journeys often mean a lot of stress for the players.

WORLD: What could the future of the NFL in Europe look like?

Edebali: I can imagine that in Germany, like in London, there will be several games over several weeks at some point. The German market is very attractive for the NFL. On the other hand, I can hardly imagine a whole division in Europe or even Germany, because the trips are very stressful for the players. But maybe there will be cooperation with European teams.

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