This is the story of Linor Shabani. A story that shows us why it is worth to always believe in yourself.
Never give up and always keep going.
Even when life puts obstacles in your way.
The story, the hard fight to the top and the ambition of a special person will be told to you in this blog post.
It is meant to show you why it always pays to work on yourself. In Linors case this also meant: Gamechanger twice.
When Linor came to Bavaria from North Rhine-Westphalia ten years ago, he had a big dream: he wanted to become a professional soccer player. To make it to the top.
First and foremost, he wants to make his family happy and give his parents a carefree future without financial hardship and work into old age.
For always being there for him when he was a child and doing everything for him.
However, in his first year he sits almost exclusively on the bench. And that was in the U-17 division of a Bayernliga club. Not the best prerequisites for a professional career.
His friends advise him to quit. Tell him it no longer makes sense. But Linor refuses to quit.
One of the most important reasons – he says today – was his father, who always believed in him and whom he never wanted to disappoint.
For the new season comes a new coach and with it a new opportunity. Thinks Linor.
But the coach brings a squad list. On this list, four names are marked - including his. Of these four, three would have to leave after the next game, the coach says.
Linor scores a goal and assists a second one.
From this key experience on, things go much better for him. Linor plays. And a short time later he makes the step up from the youth team to the first team.
Today, he knows how important this time was for him: "At this age, it is often the case that the path of life for a boy like me is decided to some extent. Either you slide down the slippery slope, or you fight your way up!"
But Linor wants more, wants to keep going all the way to the top. He is so motivated that he always seeks competition and challenge at all times.
If he doesn't feel well before a game, he goes to the soccer field beforehand. There they play small but hard-fought tournaments. That's where he regains his self-confidence and his strength in challenges.
The motto was: eat or be eaten.
On the small soccer field as well as in the club.
But even when everything is going perfectly, it's easy for a young soccer player to get wrong thoughts. There are many reasons for this. Impatience, excessive ambition, a bad environment or the wrong agent.
You want to achieve everything as quickly as possible and immediately have a flight of fancy after every good game.
That's exactly what happened to Linor. Today, he knows that it takes a lot more to become a professional than just putting in an above-average performance in two or three games in a row.
He reports that his temper often got him into trouble unnecessarily on the pitch, and that being a youngster with a migrant background is even more difficult.
He appreciates all the more how much he has learned at his club. Not only in terms of sports, but above all in the social area.
That was extremely important for his personal development, and today he is at least as proud of that as he is of his achievements on the pitch.
When Linor had two years left on his contract, his club was promoted to the 4th division. With a very young team, in which he is one of the absolute top performers. He plays every game.
His success aroused the desire of more prestigious and higher-ranking clubs. Three of his teammates make the jump and transfer. After this strong season, Linor is also promising himself offers and is counting on chances to take the next step.
He is constantly thinking about a possible transfer. He is so close to finally being able to say he has made it! But the offers don't come and he begins to doubt. About himself and his big dream of becoming a professional soccer player.
And that turns out to be a crucial mistake. His head is elsewhere, he falls into a performance slump and loses his regular spot: "The soccer business is brutal. You're down just as quickly as you were up."
But instead of fighting his way right back to the top, he first lets himself fall. He has no choice but to change clubs.
He switches back to the Bayernliga, to a promoted club, and finds himself in a completely new footballing world. A world he didn't know before and one that drags him down.
In training, he feels underchallenged and adapts. On and off the pitch. He no longer works as hard and disciplined as before, loses his fitness and gains weight.
But actually Linor still wants to know it. After a very instructive year, he returns to his old club with a lot of humility.
There he starts from scratch again, but he works and fights his way back into the team.
This will to fight his way back again and again is what made him stand out back then in the U-17 and still does today.
Coaches who more or less told him he couldn't play soccer, the doubters in his environment and every single setback only motivated Linor even more and ultimately made him what he is today.
That's why he's not mad at them, but rather very grateful.
The key message is this: No matter what setbacks you face, no matter how bad the omens are for you, never let them get you down. You must never give up!
If you want to achieve your goals, you must always remain fully focused and always do more than the others!
In the end, Linor did not become a professional soccer player. But soccer made him who he is now, with all his rough edges.
Thanks to soccer, he was very disciplined throughout his life. Soccer kept him from doing a lot of stupid things back then and also always made Linor believe in himself.
That's why Linor got a tattoo: "Belive in yourself".
That is his motto.
In recent weeks and months it has not always been easy to stay focused and disciplined. What Linor has distinguished throughout his life, what he has fought for and what he has worked for against all odds for years, has been called into question. But against a global pandemic, you can't just quickly score a decisive goal....
Soccer lives from joint training and competition. If something like that is banned, then we are all missing an important part of our lives. A part that actually defines our personality.
Linor never gave up on himself, even during this time. That's why he worked through Gamechanger twice during the lockdown. Sometimes it's good to have a reliable partner by your side who doesn't let you down, especially in difficult times.
When will you start writing your own story?
Be fearless. Be focused. B42
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