Today we are starting a series of interviews about our Team KEEGO athletes. We'll give you insider information about their beginnings, obstacles, successes and failures, about their diet and the people behind the scenes without whom our athletes would not be who they are.
The first on Team KEEGO - Luka Wraber. He started playing badminton at the age of 8 and became a member of the Austrian National Badminton Team in 2008. He participated in the 2015 and 2019 European Games and also in the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am 30 years old and have been playing badminton since I was eight. I grew up bilingual in Wiener Neustadt (my father is from Ljubljana) and attended a classical grammar school.
Luka with his father, who is getting his first badminton racket
After graduating from high school, I started playing badminton professionally and still do to this day!
Why are you so passionate about badminton?
For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by sports, but most of all by ball sports. I love to play and face new challenges again and again. Every match is one and I still enjoy the moments of exciting games. In my opinion, trying again and again to achieve my best possible performance of the day is only possible if you really play with passion.
If I don't play to win, but to actually play the game with all its facets, then I almost always play my best.
What does your workout look like?
In addition to many hours in the badminton hall, sometimes five a day, I have had my own mental coach for over 10 years and my own fitness trainer for about a year. In addition, in recent years I have invested a lot of time in physiotherapy in order to have a career that lasts as long as possible.
I think it is very important to have people around you who always challenge you on the one hand, but on the other hand see things similarly in terms of basic attitude.
Are there, for example, guidelines for the amount of water you want to drink daily? Are there any foods you particularly like to eat, but never on competition days?
5-6 years ago, I weighed myself before and after every training session for a summer to see if I was drinking enough. Since then, I know that I have to drink between 1.5 and 2.5 liters during a badminton training session, depending on how hot it is. I have a weakness for chocolate and before a match I avoid everything that is heavy on my stomach.
What do you consider to be a crucial difference/advantage you have compared to other athletes?
I think that my work ethic, my mindset and my enjoyment of the game could be an advantage compared to others.
What are your goals? - What keeps you going?
My biggest goal was to participate in the Olympic Games, but in general, I always set short, medium, and long-term goals.
Having recently returned from Tokyo, I am currently using my vacation to map out my next goals. In the future, I will probably focus most of my attention on European Championships and European Games!
Please tell us more about the most difficult moment of your career and what you learned from it or how you overcame it.
The bitterest moment in my career was the one-year Olympic qualification for the Games in Rio 2016. I played a sensational qualifying year, but in the end I was just not the best Austrian in the world rankings and therefore not qualified.
But I realized that my goal has always been the journey and that in the end it's only half as bad not to reach the final destination if you've given it your all and enjoyed the journey. That's how it was, so I was quickly able to look ahead again.
What excites you about KEEGO?
It became clear during the initial discussions that KEEGO is very interested in creating a partnership on an equal footing, in which they can grow together. In addition, the KEEGO bottle is exactly the solution to the problem that I have not been able to solve since I started playing badminton - a bottle that is not made of plastic, is not too heavy and does not quickly become unpleasantly smelly!
Is there a person in your life who has a decisive influence on your career as an athlete or your life in general?
There are a lot of people to mention here: my parents, my brother, my fiancée Ana Marija (soon to be wife), my coaches over the years (John Dinesen, Oliver Pongratz, Krasimir Yankov, Kent Madsen - all badminton; Johann Weitlaner - mental coach; Luke Couture - strength/fitness coach; the physiotherapists of the LSA and Dominik Jessenk, my sports doctor Lukas Brandner, my sponsors/supporters and many more.
Luka and his team.
KEEP GOING Luka!
Team KEEGO
