Winnipeg Fury Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 Promises made, promises broken by Michael Matsumaru Marinko Maras glanced at his passport and noticed his visa had expired two months ago. The 17-year-old from Pitt Meadows, living in Kaiserlautern, Germany was caught off guard. His first time living away from home and now this happens. Another reason to worry, another reason to doubt his ever coming to the southwestern German town in the first place. All this for soccer? When he broached the subject with team management - his Visa expired in January and it was already March, he was shocked by their reaction. They were far from sympathetic. "They didn't really do anything," said Maras. "They were making jokes about handcuffs and throwing me in jail. I was like, 'Oh my god, you guys are losers'." Fast forward to May 3, one of the best days of Maras' young life. He was excited about going home and clearing his head. He was looking forward to seeing his family and friends again. He was heading back to Pitt Meadows after a year and a half abroad, playing for the U-17 version of F.C. Kaiserslautern. At the airport, Maras ran into a roadblock, as a handful of German officials from customs spoke in hushed tones, debating what should be done with the Canadian and his expired visa. After about an hour, they let him board the plane. Although they had promised to take care of Maras' visa, nothing ever came of it. It was just another example of a broken promise - the foundation of Maras' stay in Germany. It took a lot of sweet talk and promises to get Maras out of Pitt Meadows. He was 15 at the time. An honour roll student at Archbishop Carney and a stint with the U-17 junior national team had solidified his reputation as one of the top young prospects in Canada. Maras and his parents - Doris and Peter - put a lot of faith in Dr. Andreas Kirsch, a German lawyer and the main agent for F.C. Kaiserslautern. He promised education, the soccer would be a step up for Maras, and all expenses would be paid for. In many ways, he delivered those promises. In several key areas, he was an absolute disaster. Maras lived with Kirsch for a few months, when he first arrived in Germany. It wasn't too bad when Kirsch was at home - he was a decent cook - and Maras had some company. But, as time went on, Kirsch left the 15-year-old Maras (at the time) alone in the house for weeks on end, as he travelled across the country for work. Stuck in the "boonies" and living on packaged food left behind by Kirsch, Maras was miserable. He worked out a lot. It was pretty much all he did. "I was like Rocky, kind of on a little mission," said Maras. He learned to wash his own clothes by hand - the washing machine was busted for several months - which was a good learning experience. After about five months, Maras snapped. He got into an argument with Kirsch, who was choked because he felt his work wasn't appreciated. What was wrong with frozen pizzas for a young soccer player? Thankfully, for Maras, his older brother Mirko was in Germany at the time and put him in touch with Dylan Hughes, a Vancouverite who had experienced his own run-in with Kirsch. Maras later found out that three Canadian players had already been through altercations with Kirsch. Hughes was far from shocked when he heard about Maras' troubles. He was a savior to Maras and let him stay at his place for a few weeks. The argument between Maras and Kirsch made its way back to the club, eventually. "They kind of told him off," said Maras. "I was there, it was kind of funny." From there, Maras was put up in a hotel for three months and given a bike to ride to practices - four per week. The bike rides were exhausting after practice - he rode 25 minutes each way - but they kept him in great shape. It was far from a five star hotel, though. "It was brutal, the room was like a walk-in closet," said Maras. The main reason Maras returned to Pitt Meadows was education. Kirsch had said Maras would attend the Heinriche-Heine Gymnasium, a private school home to many of the country's top junior athletes. Maras went there for about a week. He says he made it to school every day that week, except for a Wednesday when was sick. The team was told that Maras missed class that entire week. The end result of the disagreement: Maras did not attend a school for the rest of his time in Germany. He was told constantly his German wasn't good enough. Initially, he was slated to take German classes, but those never materialized. "His education has gone down the tubes," said Doris. "He's supposed to be going into Grade 12 and he's only in Grade 10." She is contemplating filing a complaint against the club, but fears it could be bad for her son's career. FIFA guidelines, however, do require clubs to provide junior players with some form of academic education. When the situation at the hotel deteriorated, Maras was put up in a home with an elderly couple in their 60s. That turned out to be a bit of a gong show. Not exactly an early riser, Maras never complained about having to get up at 8:30 a.m. for breakfast, but when he showed up late one morning the wife was not impressed. "She had a little tweak show and I had to eat breakfast in my room for the rest of the time I was there," said Maras. On the field, Maras says it was a great experience. He competed for a left back position against a player on the German U-17 national team and ended up playing in nearly every game. Even if he didn't start, he was able to play for at least half of the game. Maras got along well with most of his teammates, however his mind was often clouded with other thoughts when he was on the pitch. "So many other things were on my mind," said Maras. "That was the worst part, not being able to focus. It definitely got to me. I know that it wasn't me out there." The team won the league title, but Maras flew home before the Meister Schaft (German Cup), a disappointment for Maras. While most who love the sport of soccer were flocking to Germany in advance of the World Cup, Maras was elated to go home, even though it meant missing the cup. On May 3, he closed the chapter on his German experience, fiasco, or whatever you want to call it. It was, however, a learning experience and he does plan on returning to Europe. Just not Germany, and definitely not Kaiserlautern. "The first day I came back it was a brand new me," said Maras. "I'm here with my friends, my family and I'm putting that in the past." He started training with the Whitecaps in the middle of May and played with the Whitecaps' reserves over the summer. He's going to continue training with the Whitecaps and playing games with Croatia in the Vancouver Metro Soccer League until he figures out what's next. The family has been speaking with several agents but has yet to sign a contract. Everyone, especially Peter - the biggest supporter of Marinko, also his son's chauffeur - who is extremely skeptical of agents these days. "We should have called them out on everything right from the beginning," said Doris. "We were too patient." published on 09/05/2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 that is disgusting - and might i add a shock. so disappointing for maras. certainly now he can walk into a bc metro level team now, and back into the ntc soon enough and set his education straight. best of luck to him. he earned a bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analyst Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 I feel sorry for Marinko. I'm apalled that his parents let it happen. He was only 15 when his parents let him leave home, one of his parents should have gone over with him for several months if not full-time, to ensure things would be okay. They should also have had a back-up plan for him. Furthermore, sending him to country where he doesn't speak the language invited more trouble. There are lots of other parents who have handled their children's interests better. This year, at least 5 of his BC colleagues (from his age group) have signed with pro teams in Europe. They are all two years older and more capable of handling themselves. Haber, Giezen and Nonni have gone to Gronigen, and Giezen's father is looking out for them. Bonafacio has gone to Italy, with family connections to help take care of him. Vukovic has gone to Belgrade, after turning down an offer from Sochaux because his parents felt he would be too much at risk at Sochaux. Maras is now in grade 10 instead of grade 12, so his education has been hurt. His soccer development has also been been affected. He wasn't BC's best prospect when he left, he was an athletic defender, so his chances of making it as a Pro are probably quite slim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 he was training full-time with the u17 team, and with german nat members. how has his soccer development been hurt? he is still young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 He is still two years behind with school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 yes i am not overlooking the school. simply addressing the soccer aspect of his development. seemingly should be on track, if not ahead of kids his age. also, yes he is 2 years behind his peers in schooling which can be demoralizing amongst other things, BUT why can he not finish school at 20? i know of only 1 or 2 people who completed university in 4 consecutive years. maybe high school must not be completed in 12 consecutive years? (i ask the question as devil's advocate - and do agree one should be graduated h.s. by age 19). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analyst Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 quote:Originally posted by bettermirror he was training full-time with the u17 team, and with german nat members. how has his soccer development been hurt? he is still young. According to the article, he trained with a U17 team, one of whom is in the German U17 player pool. Assuming those statements are true, I suspect that Kaiserslauten does not think highly of him or else he would have been treated differently. They would have treated him like an investment, someone they can develop for their team or sell later on. Vukovic who is the same age, is being carefully monitored by his team, he eats lunch and dinner in the club dining room, (so they know that he is getting nutritous food needed to develop physically) they have him sharing an apartment in a building next door to the stadium, they make him go to school and require him to pass. Kaiserslauten appears not to have done those things, so the conclusion is they gave up on him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue and White Army Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 Good on the Times for published a piece like this. A real eye-opener. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analyst Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 quote:Originally posted by Blue and White Army Good on the Times for published a piece like this. A real eye-opener. Spot on- a very good article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 I would not be surprised, however, if there are two sides to this story. While the club should be dealing with Visa renewals, it is also pretty irresponsible to not notice that your Visa has run out two months ago. I can understand a schooling problem occuring for several months but how can a parent allow their child not to attend school for two years? If a responsible parent knew their child was not attending school would they not fly to Germany and attempt to rectify the situation. Kaisserslautern and Kirsch may not have acted as responsibly and caringly as they should have but it seems to me that Maras and his parents were pretty irresponsible as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Observer Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 I agree with Grizzly. It does not alleviate responsibility from Kaiserslautern, but Kaiserslautern's actions do not alleviate the responsibility of the parents either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-men Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 To me, it sounds like those people over at Kaiserlautern seem pretty retarted. You dont just treat this 16 year old like how they did. They are sapposed to take care of his schooling, they made promises that they would, and they broke those promises.If they "gave up on him" like someone said, youd think they would release him from his contract and let him go, not keep him around and giving 2 ****s about him. I know Marinko and his family and the kid didnt care that he wasnt doing as much schooling as he should of, he loves soccer and was there for soccer. All that was in his mind was the soccer and he wouldnt let know take that away from him, his parents for example. His parents were biting their nails every single day. His mother did go down there to make sure every happens as it should, and club told her, to her face, that everything would be taken care of properly. She mentioned schooling a lot, and emphasized how important it is. So she felt much better after they told her they have it under control. But yet again, they lied. Also, someone mentioned something about his parents should go every couple months and even stay with him down there. His father is on workers comp. so he isnt allowed to leave the country. His mother is the only one working, she cant be over in Germany with him everyday, or even every couple months. So who ever brought that up, dont even talk when you dont know the background behind it. But anyway, after a year and a half, Marinko had enough of it and told his parents he needs to come home. And they didnt hesitate. Also, 2 days before Marinko was sapposed to leave, the manager of the youth at the club, called him on his mobile and told him he wasnt allowed to leave because they need to sign some papers. Literally told him he is not allowed to leave the country. Even though the papers were to be signed by his parents, Marinko didnt even have to sign anything. So all in all, that artical is pretty ****ty. By the way Marinko has only 5 courses left to complete and he graduates. chao. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 You chose possibly the worst name, dude [8D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loud Mouth Soup Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 quote:Originally posted by bettermirror i know of only 1 or 2 people who completed university in 4 consecutive years. I hope your next comment is simply "I know only 1 or 2 people." Did everyone you know go to Hollywood Upstairs Medical College or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 quote:Originally posted by Rudi You chose possibly the worst name, dude [8D] Amen, brother. A-men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 re: to marinko. he's back, and it is done. where is he playing now? i work with his ex-coach and he'd like to know. re: loud mouth. normally i wouldn't respond to you but in this case i will. most people i know in university do 2-3-4 courses at a time as well as work full-time, and have families as well as other committments. most people i know are not 18 year olds who have their parents to pay for their university education at western or guelph etc, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regs Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Now that is funny... how many 22 year olds does anyone know with a degree? Furthermore, how many of them are student athletes? Last time I checked, CIS allows 5 years eligibility and most if not all soccer players I know who have chosen that route played all 5 years. Those that have gone the NCAA/NAIA route do not have a degree after 4 years - I know I didn't but that was because I was on the 10 year program ~Regs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 quote:Originally posted by Regs Now that is funny... how many 22 year olds does anyone know with a degree? Half of my graduating class? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regs Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 You are special. How many of you were student athletes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 I was a student athlete for 2 of my 3 yrs in university and graduated in 3 years. Soccer isn't the most demanding sport for a student athlete, the season is fairly short, starting in mid august (school begins in the first week of september) and finishing in mid november for only 8 teams in the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analyst Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 quote:Originally posted by G-men To me, it sounds like those people over at Kaiserlautern seem pretty retarted. You dont just treat this 16 year old like how they did. They are sapposed to take care of his schooling, they made promises that they would, and they broke those promises....I know Marinko and his family and the kid didnt care that he wasnt doing as much schooling as he should of, he loves soccer and was there for soccer. All that was in his mind was the soccer and he wouldnt let know take that away from him, his parents for example. His parents were biting their nails every single day. His mother did go down there to make sure every happens as it should, and club told her, to her face, that everything would be taken care of properly. She mentioned schooling a lot, and emphasized how important it is. So she felt much better after they told her they have it under control. But yet again, they lied. Also, someone mentioned something about his parents should go every couple months and even stay with him down there. His father is on workers comp. so he isnt allowed to leave the country. His mother is the only one working, she cant be over in Germany with him everyday, or even every couple months. So who ever brought that up, dont even talk when you dont know the background behind it. chao. You are right that we don't know the whole story - for example we don't know Kaiserslauten's side of the story, and I didn't know about the parents financial situation. I still maintain that his parents are partly to blame, and no-one should accept the argument that the kid didn't care about school, that he only cared about soccer. He was only 15 when he left, so he needed more supervision. G-men you make a good point that the parents work situation made it hard for them But the article says that his older soccer playing brother was there at the time. Could he have done more for his younger brother? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-men Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 okay Rudi. Not a New York Giants fan i guess? And yah is oldder brother was there for his break, he goes to University, so no there wasnt much more he could of done. And people that are still sayin that its his parents to blame, well you reaallllyyy dont know. But im not even gonnna get into it, i said what i had to say. And someone mentioned marinkos ex-coach? Who might that be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 so after all that no one knows where this kid is playing now that he is back in the country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soccerpro Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 I played soccer for a team who won 2 conference championships and came 2nd and 3rd at nationals. I graduated at 21. Soccer players arent morons like football or hockey guys who are there for 5 years. In my class id say 75% of people graduated in 4 years. Soccer is not a demanding sport at university, it ends in early november. All it takes is 2 hours on week nights and 2-3 road trip weekends. Its not like football where u have team practices and then meetings and film sessions every night. If you only knew 1 or 2 people who graduated in 4 years you must have went to clown college. quote:Originally posted by Regs Now that is funny... how many 22 year olds does anyone know with a degree? Furthermore, how many of them are student athletes? Last time I checked, CIS allows 5 years eligibility and most if not all soccer players I know who have chosen that route played all 5 years. Those that have gone the NCAA/NAIA route do not have a degree after 4 years - I know I didn't but that was because I was on the 10 year program ~Regs. quote:Originally posted by Regs Now that is funny... how many 22 year olds does anyone know with a degree? Furthermore, how many of them are student athletes? Last time I checked, CIS allows 5 years eligibility and most if not all soccer players I know who have chosen that route played all 5 years. Those that have gone the NCAA/NAIA route do not have a degree after 4 years - I know I didn't but that was because I was on the 10 year program ~Regs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regs Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 Any sport at the university level should be demanding on a student athlete - if not they you certainly weren't a very dedicated athlete. Go back to school and learn how to quote. ~Crusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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