European champion Rebekka Haase visits CRS medical

The current European champion in the women's 4x100 meter relay, Rebekka Haase, visited CRS medical and gave the trainees an insight into her career and everyday life. Rebekka Haase is a member of Sprintteam Wetzlar e.V. and has been supported by CRS medical as a regional sponsor since the beginning of 2019.

The athlete became European champion this year and won bronze at the World Athletics Championships. Her greatest successes also include two appearances in the Olympic finals, she is three-time European U23 champion and eight-time German champion. In a discussion round with the trainees from CRS medical, Rebekka talked about her everyday life as a competitive athlete and her experiences of teamwork in individual sports disciplines and what can be transferred to the world of work.
 

As a competitive athlete, she doesn't have a normal everyday life. “That's only possible in the off-seasons. We have a winter and summer season and everyday life happens in between.” Her daily routine is determined by training. “Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are our intensive training days, where we train for 4-5 hours a day and then it's all about personal care,” says Rebekka. Eating, sleeping and the bureaucratic things are duties that she can only do after training. As a competitive athlete, Rebekka is self-employed, with all the duties that entails. She and most other competitive athletes finance their sport through competition bonus systems and sponsorship. “If you don't run competitions, you can't qualify internationally and then your funding is cut. In that sense, we are tied to the international competitions, otherwise we can't fulfill the contracts.” She also says that track and field athletes in her sport unfortunately still don't receive the attention from outside that athletes in other sports do. “I'm often asked the question: 'What's your job?' and 'What do you do for a living? I don't think anyone would ask a professional footballer that question.”

Her career began as a child, initiated by her best friend.  At the age of 14, Rebekka decided to take part in competitive sport, contrary to medical findings. Among other things, she was diagnosed with congenital hip damage, which doctors said would make it impossible for her to pursue a career as a competitive athlete in athletics. “I just had fun with it. My coach, who still accompanies me today, motivated me to achieve ever higher goals in a playful way at the beginning. Because I didn't train very often at the beginning, he made bets with me about what times I could run. If I lost, the condition was to come to training more often. That motivated me, I wanted to know how far I could push my body and what was possible.”

Willpower and motivation are particularly important for competitive athletes, but so are the breaks you have to give your body, Rebekka explains to the group. “If you don't give your body these breaks, it will take them away. I felt that myself, especially during the Olympic years. You are often confronted with mental challenges. This year I started talking about it publicly, because for many athletes the world collapses after the Olympics.” Rebekka reports that it can help to talk to other athletes who are in a similar situation and can empathize with these emotions.
 

This year, the track and field athlete celebrated one of her greatest successes. At the European Championships in Munich, she won the 4x100 meter race with her teammates. This victory could only be won as a team that trusts each other. The trainees wanted to know from Rebekka what role teamwork plays in the relay. Rebekka explained that it doesn't work to see a team as just a unit, but that a team needs the different strengths of each individual to rely on. “Every relay race is a new test of confidence. I usually run in 4th place, so when my colleague in front of me crosses her marker, I start running. I have to be able to rely on her to do everything right. I can't see what's happening, there's nothing I can do about it, but I have to trust her.”

Just like in everyday life, the athlete also experiences defeats in competitions alongside her successes, which she has learned to deal with. “If things don't go well in a relay, then only two people can be involved in a change. But in the end, the whole team has to carry the result of the race together, which includes both successes and failures.  That's what makes a team. Because mistakes happen, that's human. If you then admit the mistake and improve, you help yourself and the team move forward.”
 

During the interview, the trainees asked Rebekka how she generally deals with criticism. Rebekka explained that as a competitive athlete in international competitions, you are often exposed to criticism. You are criticized both in training and by the media. However, she makes a clear distinction between criticism and feedback. “You need valuable feedback. There are people who gloss over everything but don't help you constructively. Others talk more harshly, but pass on their experiences, which you need and need to hear.” But even with the right feedback, you can't keep your training performance consistent. “You can't perform to the maximum every day and be motivated in training. But you have to realize that that's okay. My coach's favorite saying is 'No development is linear'. I've been down regularly, but the next week you're there and you're in the Olympic final.”

This motivation to achieve the best is also evident in her future goals: “I'm still missing a medal in the collection, I want that Olympic medal. Two finals, one 5th place and one 4th place, I think there is still something to be gained. I'm convinced that I haven't reached my maximum yet. I want to get faster and know how fast I can be. I don't know how much it will be, but I'm sure I'll be faster.”