It is time to unveil the next interview! He is from a country that borders Sweden, our languages are somehow related, yet we struggle to understand each other. Yes, you guessed it (or your read it in the title), he is from Denmark, and as of recently he is the goalie of the Danish national team!
Welcome, Rasmus!
Welcome, Rasmus!
Congratulations on your debut with the Danish national team! What was it like to play in the Danish colors?
It was absolutely awesome. Nothing less. Every game is always nice, but you cant deny that playing for your nationality and the colours of your home country just is a few steps up. It was my goal to get my debut in 2016, so that i already got called up here was just amazing and giving some extra motivation!
Did you change your exercise routine at all when you decided to aim for the National team? Did you do anything special to get to where you are now?
On floorball level, well it started last season/year when i decided i wanted to go play in in Sweden again. So in the pre-season I trained with a few different clubs from allsvenskan to 2. division. The level in both matches and training even in the 2. division is a step higher than in Denmark. I got convinced to go back and play for Malmhaug KFUM again (Played their as u18/JAS for one year) because of the promise of playing matches. That was the main target for me in the end when I decided where to play. On the technical and mental part I got training from a danish national goalie in icehockey, Sebastian Dahm, who helped me alot.
Beside the floorball training I also focused much more on fitness and gym training in explosiveness and stamina exercises combined with a few heavy leg trainings.
As a player, what do you feel is the quality (or qualities) that made them choose you?
I am often a calm goalie who is more focused on my position in goal instead of flying around all the time in the goal area.
Also my size helps me alot, being around 194-195cm high and weighing somewhere 95kg with wide shoulders, I fill the goal good. I sometimes though have some trouble not getting out of the goal enough and sitting a bit to close to the goal. But then I have my reflexes which I also think is one of my qualities.
And since I started with proper fitness training and leg training I build my speed and movement properly and are by my own meaning becoming faster and faster in the goal compared to size. I am also more stable against opponents who are having the ball who tries to build an attack around on the side and play the ball around.
Tell us about yourself!
I am a 21 year old boy living in Brøndby Strand, just outside Copenhagen. When I dont workout at either the gym or floorball, I study Biology on Copenhagen University. Work whenever I have vacation or days off from school at my dads company.
What made you choose floorball?
I started playing it was after a long period with no sport or activity. My cousin had played it a year or so, and it was because of her i started!
Before that I have played both all the typical sports and some quite unusual in Denmark. From football, handball to softball, but nothing really got me.
By some reason, I just fell for floorball, the intensity of the game and speed, plus possibility.
Why did you want to be a goalkeeper?
Well, I kinda always played the goalie in other sports, or tried to be in some period if it was possible. But i think for floorball it was because my cousin who played at that time was a goalie, and told a lot about how they had a goalie practice once a week with all the goalies in the club with a coach.
You and I met at Warberg Goalie Camp earlier this year and we had a great time practicing! Was that your first time visiting a goalie camp and what was it like to be at a training camp specifically for goalkeepers?
WGC was absolutely awesome. Indeed! It was my first time to Warberg, earlier the only kind of training camps I had been at was Selected Player Camp, where there is 2-3 days of practice and the 2 days of matches against the other countries team. But the practices there for goalies were more focused on slides exercises and so. There were no shooting or just a very little amount of positioning in the goal area.
But at WGC (Warberg Goalie Camp), you are not as many goalies at the same time for training and a lot more trainers/instructors. And there is a lot more focus on where to sit and be in the goal to cover the angles. Even the shooters there are told about the technique and "meaning" of the style they practice and can even go in and say what they see from their position. Also talking like you said, and meeting with so many different goalies with different original style or qualities all trying to do one thing - to get better and to learn.
If you could pass on some advice to new, younger or just other goalkeepers, what would that be?
First, go with what you feel comfortable doing in the goal. If you try some new stuff or learning new style but don't feel like it fits you, then go with what you like in the goal. Cause for me, when its a hard, long match or you are getting tired, you don't get to think so much about how high your hands are or so on. You go back to what you feel safe/comfortable with. Like Lundin (Oscar Lundin, Warberg) said at the camp, make a habit out of your style so you know that you 95% of the time when you for example slide left or right or to the post or to the middle, you do the same movement no matter how tired you are.
So, just play and train!
And lastly: train and work with your body; mind and body training. Learn the signs your different muscles send during training and matches, to find maybe some weak point and focus on it at the gym or next training.
With combination of that, make sure you have a purpose for every training. So you decide before your floorball training to give 100% focus on like 1 or 2 things. Whether it is where your hands are or your rebound control or whatever. Find a purpose for exactly that exercise or training and give everything you got for that!
Thank you Rasmus, for taking the time to do the interview! A big congratulations on your recent success, and I hope to see you in either Denmark or Sweden soon again!
/Pontus
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