It felt a bit like drinking four Cuba Libres in a row – “only a lot cooler”. This is how Anton Brehme describes the feeling of waking up after anesthesia. For the 22-year-old volleyball player, that January moment marked something of a turning point in his career. He has had to struggle with knee problems time and again in recent years. Now he hopes to have this under control in the long term with an operation on the patellar tendon and is working hard on his comeback.
Brehme, who was one of the regulars at BR Volleys last year, hasn’t even been on the pitch this season. “That’s very unfortunate,” says managing director Kaweh Niroomand and is largely due to the time with the national team last summer. “He already had knee problems. But the team doctor told him it couldn’t get any worse. So he should play. That was definitely a wrong assessment, especially since our team doctor had warned him against it.”
Actually, Brehme should have used the summer to recover from his knee, but instead his complaints continued to increase during the European Championship. When they didn’t improve back in Berlin, he finally decided to have an operation performed by his father.
“When it became clear that I would have to have an operation, I was pretty depressed,” says Brehme. “For me, a world has ended.” Even the tipsy feeling of the anesthetic did not last long, because for the following days and weeks he was only allowed to lie down and had pain all over his body.
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At the same time, he knew that things couldn’t go on like before, says Brehme. “And at some point I felt a tingling sensation, that was a good sign.” Brehme spent most of his time with his family in Leipzig and completed a rehabilitation program there.
His family helped him not to lose heart, says Brehme, and teammates like Timothée Carle also support him from afar. Brehme also enrolled at a distance university and studied business administration and sports management. “Today I know that the surgery was the best decision I could have made.” Despite this, he couldn’t watch his team’s games for a long time without getting sad.
That has now changed: he was there for the first time in the third play-off semi-final game against United Volleys Frankfurt and surprised his colleagues. “I was so excited. Tim ran towards me right away, even though he was supposed to be warming up and the first thing he said was that I’d gotten fat,” says Brehme and laughs. “He’s probably a bit right, that’s why I’m on a diet.”
The volleys play against Friedrichshafen in the championship final – Brehme watches
Overall, however, the visit encouraged him and reminded him of what he was working towards. The new motivation also benefits him with the many leg and strength exercises in rehab. Nevertheless, Brehme still has to be patient and hold back with jumps so as not to jeopardize progress.
Niroomand hopes Brehme sits out the summer with the national team and continues to rest his knee. “If he’s not careful there, his career will be over.” That would also be a big loss for the Volleys, who want to keep Brehme next season. “We had good talks and actually agree that he will stay in Berlin. I have always believed in him and stand by him. If he recovers, I hope he can give something back to the club.”
For the time being, however, Brehme still has to provide mental support and keep his fingers crossed for the volleys in the game against long-term rival Friedrichshafen on Saturday evening (6.30 p.m./Spontent). There the final series starts in the “Best of Five” mode and should the volleys defend the championship title, then Brehme will at least not miss the celebration and one or the other Cuba Libre.
