My parents gave up things for me when I was growing up.

I started out at youth level as a holding midfielder.

Your eyes are very important as a professional footballer.

I was only 19 when I came to Hoffenheim. Everything was new to me - a strange country, a foreign language. That was not easy at the beginning. Europe was a big adventure to me, and of course I had my doubts.

My parents didn't really understand too much about sport. At that time, we were in a Polish community in the inner city of Chicago, and I was the youngest of a bunch of cousins. Polish families are real big, with cousins and aunts and uncles.

Amazingly enough, athletic achievement is one of those things that seems larger than life at points. I think we all look to sport for inspirations.

I was in the top 1 percent of football players. Indie guys are in the bottom 95 percent of wrestlers.

It is for sure a big part of the coach's job to make sure the tennis does not get neglected.