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Timo Kastening during the European Championship game against Austria
Photo:
Tilo Wiedensoler / IMAGO / camera4
I like to eat for my life.
That's why what I'm experiencing right now isn't the worst.
Every day when there's a knock on my hotel room door, I can be sure that my roommate Lukas Zerbe has put something from the buffet in front of my door again.
I then count to 30 so Lukas has time to run away.
That's how we agreed, I don't want to infect him because I have Corona.
Lukas knows what I like and how much I like to eat: potatoes, avocado, pasta salad, chicken, beef.
That's really great, thanks to our team chef Nils Walbrecht for a selection in our team hotel at the European Handball Championship in Bratislava.
Luckily I didn't get infected with Corona at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, it would have hit me much worse - at least as far as the food is concerned.
My PCR result is now three days ago.
On Monday, like four other national players, I tested positive.
In total we have nine cases in our team.
This is really not a nice situation.
I'm not doing particularly well yet: I have a sore throat, a headache and a cough.
But the symptoms subside.
I felt a little worse on Sunday. We had won against Austria and celebrated our second win, I was named player of the match. Man what a fantastic evening. Actually. But after that I was suddenly completely floored. Broken than usual. I felt the strain of the game in every bone. The fact that I then tested positive on Monday didn't tear me out of all the clouds.
"Timo, stay in your room," a supervisor said to me on Monday morning.
Since then I've been in isolation, since then I haven't seen anyone from the team.
I'm really out, right now.
If the team arranges a meeting that takes place online, I'm no longer there.
Then I pass the time with Netflix, currently I'm watching »Fauda«, a series about an Israeli undercover unit.
Pretty exciting.
And every now and then, fortunately, Lukas knocks.
In theory, I could test myself again on Sunday with a second negative result and play in our third main round game.
I really want to help our team, it's fun to play with so many new faces.
That is why I am here.
But right now I'm skeptical whether it will still work in this final round with a mission.
Maybe the EM went for me.
I don't want to risk any after-effects.
I'm 26 and still have a long way to go.
The isolation is not entirely new, only that it has now become even more lonely.
On New Year's Eve, I had arranged to meet up with friends for a morning pint in the fresh air.
A few drinks, nothing wild.
That was practically my last contact with the outside world.
Since then we have withdrawn completely within the team circle.
We live on our own floor in the team hotel in Bratislava, we have our own cook with Nils.
We have isolated ourselves – as best we can – from external dangers, from the corona virus.
That went well for a long time – until Julius Kühn had the first positive test in the team on Saturday.
We don't know who he got infected with.
Maybe with a spectator, maybe he went to the toilet in the hall and then touched his face?
No idea.
I don't think the organizer did anything wrong, at least not here in Slovakia.
I know nothing about the conditions in Hungary.
But it's also like this: Corona is now just everywhere.
We knew that the European Championship will not be a safe place.
If only because of the omicron variant.
And we knew that we could get infected if we played this European Championship.
Everyone is aware of this risk.
Also the many nominees who have now reached the team: Johannes Bitter, Fabian Wiede, they are all aware of this danger.
I understand that the corona outbreak is a big topic.
I just think it's part of the new normal too.
Something like that can happen.
We in our team are all vaccinated, I hope that the infections will also be milder and we will all be back on our feet quickly.
Professional sport is our job, we all love our job.
But if those responsible want to cancel the European Championship, it's their decision.
But our team really wants to keep playing.
I'm absolutely sure with this.
Protocol: Jan Goebel
