The athlete.
Coboc Connects. | 29.07.2024
Ex-professional footballer and TV pundit Sebastian Kneißl tests the Sydney. We accompany him for a while and talk about his career, pressure and balance.
Sebastian Kneißl enjoys moving. This is immediately clear when he enters the Coboc headquarters in Heidelberg on this sunny July morning. Wearing a sporty outfit including stylish neon green socks and full of energy, he is looking forward to handing over his new athlete: The Sydney in Astro Grey. But that full energy wasn’t always the case.
Review of an impressive career.
“I wasn’t sleeping anyway,” the Odenwald native tells us with a broad grin during a brief tour of our office. We never expected that we would be able to make the TV pundit of a Champions League final, the ultimate in European club soccer, nervous with our e-bikes.
Kneißl’s career has been characterized by highs and lows. Celebrated as one of the most promising German talents at Eintracht Frankfurt at a young age, his path led him back to Germany via several stops in England and Scotland before he dedicated himself to the job of commentator and pundit. His stories about the enormous pressure and low points he faced as a professional footballer are impressive.
“In the beginning, I heard from time to time: Can he perhaps shoot us to the title at the 2006 World Cup our country?” And that was more than five years before the tournament. As a seventeen-year-old.
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From Burnout to the Champions League.
Although the performance is often good, Kneißl cannot live up to these exaggerated expectations. Looking at the emotional extremes he experiences, he summarizes: “Being cheered by 50,000 people is great, but being booed by 30,000 people is also incredibly bad.” Understandably, at some point his head says: “Why am I doing all this to myself?”
2014 the damper – diagnosis of burnout. Unemployed, living in one of the most expensive cities in Germany and with a pregnant partner, he fights his way back – as an expert in the Champions League final. Today, Kneißl focuses on self-leadership and can look back on his time in the madhouse of professional soccer with reflection.
On the Sydney back home.
Kneißl’s passion for sport and exercise in general has never waned. This is particularly evident in his enthusiasm for cycling. It is a perfect balance
to his often hectic professional life and offers a new kind of sporting activity. “I still like to push myself, but always to the extent that I need to.” So our favorite buddy for the urban gym comes just in time.
The man from Griesheim tests how our 14.5 kg lightweight Sydney in stylish Astro Grey feels live – and not just on a lap around the courtyard. No, the 60 km from Heidelberg to his home town are completed entirely on his new Coboc e-bike and we accompany him for part of the way. Sometimes with, sometimes without the support of the motor, Sebastian speeds along the Neckar towards home. After almost 3 ½ hours, the phone rings and an enthusiastic Sebastian Kneißl tells us on the other end of the line that he has now arrived home “with the rocket” and is overjoyed.
Thank you for your visit Sebastian, have fun with your Sydney and see you soon!
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