Flag/Euro2013: back-to-back titles for the Austrian's Men Team ?Interview of Sebastian Wolf

World champions 2012
World champions 2012
le 18/09/2013 à 21:34 par François-Noël Martin

4 days before the Flag Football European championship opening, we propose you the interview of Sebastian Wolf, austrian man player who accepted to answer our questions:

Hi Sebastian ! In a first time, could you please introduce yourself?

I'm 20 years old and I play safetySafety
Signifie deux choses différentes :
1- c'est le plaquage du porteur du ballon dans sa propre zone d'en-but. Cela rapporte 2 points à l'équipe qui l'effectue et elle récupère la possession du ballon. L'équipe victime du safety va alors dégager depuis ses 20 yards au moyen d'un botté façon puntPunt
action utilisée en 4ème tentative et x yards à parcourir. Plutôt que de tenter les x yards, l'attaque choisit de botter le plus loin possible pour faire reculer son adversaire..
2- c'est un poste en défense. Le safety est en quelque sorte le dernier rempart. Il tient en quelque sorte le rôle d'un libéro en football européen. for the Austrian National Team and the Klosterneuburg Indians.

I started playing Flag Football when I was 12 years old. A professor at my high school offered Flag Football classes and I immediately fell in love with this sport. My school had under 13 and under 15 teams. After that, you only could play Flag Football when you joined a club team ! Highlights of my high school career are: U15 European Championship in Newcastle (Great Britain) in 2006, Austrian champion in 2007, NFL Europe European champion in Frankfurt (Germany) in 2007, 5th place at the NFL World Championships in New Orleans (USA) in 2007, third place at the IFAF World Championship in Netherlands in 2007. What I really like about the international competitions is that you can compete against people from all over the world that share the same passion as you: Flag Football. 

At the men level, I could have played for the national team at the age of 15 at the 2008 World Championship in Montreal (Canada), but due to age restrictions, unfortunately, I wasn't able to. The first time I played for the men team was in 2010 at the World Championship in Ottawa (Canada). It was a great experience. The following year, we placed second at the European Championship in Thonon-les-Bains, by losing the final against Denmark ! 

How was your last season?

I play for the Klosterneuburg Indians, a team located in Vienna. We have a couple of guys playing for the national team. Last year, we fell short to the Styrian Studs in an epic final game ! Besides that it was a pretty successful year. We hope to regain the throne again this year ! 

Sebastian Wolf
Sebastian Wolf (Kellner Holly Thomas)

You won the World Championship in Sweden last year with a victory against USA in final game. Before playing this last round, did you think you could have done it?

Unfortunately, I injured my ankle pretty bad about 8 weeks before we took the field in Gothenburg. I hoped to be ready for the competition, but the doctors didn't clear me to play. I went to Sweden and helped my team with anything they needed ! Scouting opponents, getting the guys ready to play, warming them up, etc. After we beat Mexico in the semi-finals, and knew that we would play the United States of America, basically the founders of Football, we said everything is possible in the final. That’s how we played. 

The end of this final was crazy and undecided (victory 47 – 40 with seven touchdownsTouchdown (TD)
c'est l'essai qui vaut 6 points et qui peut être transformé au choix à 1 ou 2 points. Il suffit que le ballon pénètre dans la endzone. (pas besoin d'aplatir) in second halfHalf
Une mi-temps, il y en a deux. Elles débutent toutes les 2 par un coup de pied d'envoi : kickoff.). How did you live these last minutes of the game?

When I look back at the final, especially at the last minutes, it was like a movie. Everything happened so fast. The two teams battling it out on the field. I was sure that everybody on our team left everything on the field and played as hard as they could to win. After our defenseDefense
escouade spécialisée dans la défense. stopped them on fourth down with a couple of seconds left, it was a party from there on ! 

 What did you feel at the end of this game?

We were amazed, happy, stunned all at the same time. It’s a feeling you can hardly describe ! So much was going on, people screaming, hugging each other etc. All the hard work we put in at the gym, on the field and in the meeting rooms finally paid off. It was just an awesome time inTime In
quand le chrono tourne. Sweden ! 

How does the Austrian national team prepare this European Championship?

Since all the players are not from one town, we cannot practice regularly like the women team does. This year, we had 3 training camps, each being 2 days. Our coaches invite the best players. This year, our roster contained about 20 players. It was really tough this year, because a couple of really good players and leaders went down with injuries. I know that the coaches picked a good team. We worked hard and are all looking forward to competing against different teams.

What will be your final goal in Italy?

I think that we prepared well as a team. We practiced hard and everybody will play 100% at the European championship. As long as we don't make stupid mistakes and beat ourselves with penalties or drops, we can go pretty far in the tournament. Personally, I'm happy to be back playing at the international level. Watching games from the sidelineSideline
ligne de touche. last year was a tough experience, but I think it made me stronger and I learned a lot.

European vice-champions in 2011
European vice-champions in 2011 (Grégory Thorens)

With your previous world title, it seems Austria will be the team to beat during this competition... Is it an additional pressure for you?

I wouldn't say it’s additional pressure. We know that on the international level, the competition is very close, often small things decide the outcome of the game. For that reason, you have to be ready starting with the first snapSnap
signal de départ de l'action, quand le centre transmet la balle au QB. in every game. Otherwise, it will be an uphill battle from there on. 

You will start the competition with the game against France: What do you know about this team?

The first game is always really important. It sets the tone for the rest of the tournament ! The French teams I played against were always tough to beat. Well coached, disciplined and fought until the last second. I'm looking forward to a fair game. 

From your point of view, who will be the favourites to win this championship?

It's hard to say, every year is different. Of course there are teams like Denmark, France and Italy, which enjoyed a lot of success in the past. But you can never count out the other countries as well. I just hope that we will see a lot of good games and that the best team will win.

What do you think about the general Flag level in Europe during these last international competitions?

The level of competitions is great ! It is getting better each year. I can remember when I first played in 2006, there were some teams struggling with basics such as catching, flag pulling etc. Nowadays, every single team has reached a certain level. It seems to me as every year that level still goes up. I think Flag Football is attracting more and more people. In Austria, the amount of teams is going up annually. I like that development a lot, because that means that the competition level is going up as well.

Last question: what is your best Flag Football memory?

That’s tricky. Since I started playing when I was 12, I was fortunate enough to be part of great teams and also great memories. One of the best memories was probably playing at the New Orleans Saints practice facility at the 2007 World Championship. And then, of course, winning the 2007 European Championship as underdogs ! Certainly, I will never forget what happened last year in Gothenburg. Winning the tournament and being World Champions is just awesome !

Sebastian Wolf with the Klosterneuburg Indians
Sebastian Wolf with the Klosterneuburg Indians (Barbara Straub)

 

... chargement de la zone de commentaire ...
 Qu'est-ce que c'est? Il s'agit d'une sphéroïde allongé, une sphère allongée -- une sphère allongée dans laquelle l'enveloppe extérieure est en cuir tirée fermement par-dessus un tube de caoutchouc légèrement plus petit. Il vaut mieux avoir été mort petit garçon que pour certains d'entre vous de faire un fumble.  – John Heisman, coach, Georgia Tech

En VO :  What is it? It is a prolate spheroid, an elongated sphere -- that is, an elongated sphere in which the outer leather casing is drawn tightly over a somewhat smaller rubber tubing. Better to have died a small boy than for any of you to fumble it. 

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