Nike Lorenz is captain of the Germany crew presently atop Pool A within the FIH Women’s Hockey Olympic Qualifiers in Ranchi. A two-time Olympian who was a part of the German bronze-medal profitable crew on the 2016 Rio Olympics, she has greater than 150 worldwide appearances. But Lorenz is greater than only a hockey participant. And she makes it some extent to have an identification past the sector.
PREMIUM Lorenz is greater than only a hockey participant. And she makes it some extent to have an identification past the sector.(Instagram)
The 26-year-old runs a weblog titled, “Writing Out Loud”, the place she pens her ideas about points starting from girls empowerment, racism, gender and sexual inclusivity via a sequence of articles. The platform is just not all social and political; there are additionally essays about her Rio Games Village expertise, espresso, books and dwelling via the Covid pandemic.
Yet there are particular matters that she feels strongly about. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Lorenz wore a rainbow-coloured band on her socks in help of the LGBTQ motion, however not earlier than the International Olympic Committee needed to approve it. Letting her ideas out on these points via a weblog was “better for my mental health”, she mentioned. It helped that she loved writing in class, and that she feels the urge to make use of her affect as a high athlete in Germany to take these discussions to a wider viewers.
“That makes me want to speak up,” Lorenz advised this paper. “In a lot of these cases, I’m on the privileged side. For example, when I talk about the female choice or racism, I read so much about people saying they need allies, that I feel the need to step up on these issues.”
Some matters in her weblog even have a private contact. There’s one on “disordered eating” that an elite athlete, particularly girl athlete, usually goes via. “Women get judged so much on how they look. We need to move away from the body image, especially in female sports,” she mentioned.
Environment is one other challenge near her coronary heart. Lorenz works part-time within the sustainability division of a grocery store chain in Germany, the place a part of her job is to implement insurance policies round deforestation laws and attempting to promote solely these objects “for which they don’t need plants and trees to be killed”, she mentioned.
Articles on racism come up very often. In an August 2020 essay titled ‘An anti-racism marketing campaign from sport’, she writes: “We want to make the issue of racism in Germany, more precisely in sport, tangible”. In a February 2021 article, she invitations German sprinter Yasmin Kwadwo to debate the topic and methods to combat racism of their nation.
The incontrovertible fact that individuals are beginning to speak about it again house is a place to begin for actual change, which, she believes, has been “really slow”.
“We want to present such matters a voice, mainly. Get folks to speak about it; additionally present anybody in cost that we do care about this, so that you higher do one thing about it,” she said. “But yes, it’s still a long way to go.”
The two-time Olympian going for her third also senses a semblance of shift within the sporting world in terms of sportspersons putting such issues in the spotlight — Naomi Osaka during Black Lives Matter, for instance — and governing bodies listening and budging to athlete voices.
“At times you see them changing rules. Women can now play in shorts as well and not just skirts, or in different sports they can wear longer trousers,” Lorenz said.
“But I feel for now, it’s still a lot of female voices speaking up. So, they go like: ‘they are female issues’. And they often get pushed to the side a little. For it to become more rounded, you need more men to get into our standpoint. You need more people, and the privileged people, to say, ‘I’m concerned about this as well, and we need to get this right even though we’re not affected’.”
One argument to that, however, is for people not fully informed about certain subjects, silence is the best answer at times. Most of India’s top sportspersons stayed away from commenting during the wrestlers’ protests around the sexual harassment allegations against the then federation chief last year.
“I get that you have to be informed to speak up,” Lorenz said. “But I really feel like in case you see one thing that you just agree with, simply say that and possibly not the rest. That’s a stronger viewpoint than not saying something. I’m not frightening everybody to be an activist; as a result of I understand how a lot power it takes. But it is easy sufficient for folks round you to say, ‘I agree, I’m right behind you’. I see quite a lot of single voices which can be alone and robust, however they have to be backed up.”
Lorenz mentioned she would love to write down extra, however with full-time hockey and a part-time job to juggle, time stays an impediment. Not that she needs to restrict herself. After the Tokyo Olympics the place Germany completed sixth, Lorenz took up a Masters course in entrepreneurship, innovation and administration in Nottingham whereas additionally taking part in hockey for the University of Nottingham. The balancing act, whereas additionally placing her ideas into phrases, solely helps her hockey.
“It’s really important for me as a person. I’m very cautious that I also have a different identity, which is more than just hockey,” she mentioned. “Even while I’m here, it helps me to think about something else. That’s why I have the blog. If I have just hockey, it could make me too narrowed in my view.”
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
