Basketball world champion after depression: Herbert’s summer of openness
National coach Gordon Herbert (r) and his captain Dennis Schröder with the World Cup trophy. Photo
© Boris Roessler/dpa
Depression and alcohol – that was Gordon Herbert’s past. Sporting success and a series of awards characterize the present. The summer will show what the future holds.
Gordon Herbert had already secured his place in German basketball history long before the exciting Olympic summer. As a world champion coach, the 65-year-old Canadian will forever be associated with the completely unexpected World Cup triumph in Manila and the semi-final victory over the US star ensemble.
But in the weeks before the next highlight in Paris, Herbert is doing a lot to ensure that in future, people in German sports will remember not only his successes and his work as head coach, but also his remarkably open approach to an illness that still carries a stigma, especially in professional sport. Herbert suffered from depression for years, fought it with alcohol and at times saw no way out for himself.
“Could no longer communicate”
“I was in a phase that I never wanted to be in again. I fought through it for six years. I didn’t know how I got there. The worst moment was a training camp in the Czech Republic. I didn’t understand anything and couldn’t communicate anymore. After that I spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital,” Herbert told the German Press Agency about his difficult past.
The Olympics will be his last tournament as national coach for the time being, after which they will part ways. In the book “The boys gave me my life back”, published in June, the chapter “On the ground” is dedicated to the dark times. Herbert’s honest and courageous statements about his acute depression made the rounds much more than everything that the world champion coach and his players around Dennis Schröder had to say about the golden days in Asia.
World champions knew nothing about Herbert’s past
In the fall of 2010, Herbert thought that he would make it from the bottom to the top of the basketball throne. “No, I could never have dreamed of that. I just wanted my life back. That was the only goal I was concerned with,” said the coach. Since this week, he has been working with the national team in Munich to prepare for the Olympics. Even his pros didn’t know what Herbert had been through until this summer.
“Players like Mo Wagner have already commented positively during tournaments when I have shown emotions. Now they know my story and can put it into perspective in a different way,” reported Herbert. After preparations in Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin and London, the goal is to win the third medal at a major event in three years at the Olympic Games in France. The chance is definitely there.
And the players could benefit from Herbert’s descriptions. The 65-year-old not only wants to reveal his own story, but also raise awareness of how to deal with the illness. Shortly before the publication of his book, he told “Stern”: “What I also had to learn during my depressive episodes was to say: I need help. A simple sentence, but so difficult to say, out of shame and false pride.” I don’t want others to feel that way.
Nowitzki also admires Herbert
What Herbert will do professionally after the Olympics is still an open question. His dream is to work for a club for two years and then for a national team for two years. The admiration in basketball Germany is great. Even NBA legend Dirk Nowitzki admires Herbert for his successes – but also his openness in dealing with mental problems.
“I think it’s brave and important how he faces this issue and speaks about it so openly. This way we can all learn from his experience and benefit from his insights. It’s a benefit for sport that there are personalities like him,” Nowitzki wrote in the foreword. The honesty should “remind us why sport is so important in our society and why young people become athletes.”
dpa
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