THE JUNIOR

T. Bieth: “What does baseball mean to you and what makes it so fascinating for you?”

Baseball has taught me many things I can apply to life, such as how to deal with success and failure, how to confront and overcome adversity, communication, discipline, ambition, physical and mental stamina, teamwork, social skills, how to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to practice for an hour and a half before class, respect and many other things.

T. Bieth: “You live for baseball and put a lot of passion and energy into your training. As a pitcher of the German national team you are often in the center of the game. How do you personally deal with insults / stupid sayings of the spectators?”

Once I stand on the hill and reach the “flow status” of my being, I hear absolutely nothing from the fans. But as soon as I am brought out of my calm – which can happen for various reasons – it is often only sayings of the fans who wish me bad luck. But the bad success is only fixed on the sportive one and so I know that the spectators don’t want anything bad for me and I don’t give any value to the comments. This attitude helps me to forget such comments quickly and not to let them get to me.

T. Bieth: “What would you wish for our sport in connection with the topic anti-discrimination?

I would like everyone to understand that we are in the same boat and that this is the boat of sport. No matter what club, sex, skin colour or origin. Sport is sport and as soon as everyone understands that sport is the top priority, there will be less discrimination.

T. Bieth: “What do you recommend to athletes who have been victims of discrimination?

I wish for all victims of discrimination that they have a reference person who helps them to deal with the experience. If this is not given, I wish that they can use another source like religion or something similar to help them cope.

T. Bieth: “Thank you for the interview and your open words. We are very happy to have you on board as an ambassador for our program.