Max is a long time volunteer turned employee for mindyourmind as a Youth Outreach Assistant. He enjoys blogging, cats, and the state of Utah. Check him out on Twitter: @maxamilli

For a period of time, Michael Ballack was the captain and the best  player on the German national team. He led the team to third place in  the 2006 World Cup, and second place in the 2008 Euro Cup. But leading  up to the 2010 World Cup everything changed, injuries meant he had to  miss the entire competition where

Germany were the surprise team full of 20-somethings that went on to  third place and displayed a bright future for the German team – without  Ballack.

Ballack essentially represented a style of the national team that had  all but disappeared. He was a work horse, a player defined by his will  to succeed and the passion by which he played that was hard and  passionate. What he lacked in skill, he made up for in workmanship and  strength which became indicative of the German teams he captained. But  during the World Cup, without him, the team adopted a newer, more  skilled style that spectators fell in love with. Ballack was watching a  team fundamentally change…from the sidelines.

Following failed attempts to return to the national team, today, head  coach of the German national team Joachim Loew decided Ballack’s career  was being put to an end… Just before his 99th cap. This makes me wonder  about how that would make someone feel, to go from being the captain,  the best player, the face of the team…to being ousted due to injury.

Obviously injuries are a part of the game, but I can’t imagine it  sitting well with a player when they try to come back only to find that  they aren’t necessary anymore. It must take a toll on an athlete’s  psyche to essentially go from the centre of the universe, to a distant  planet no longer in orbit. If you were Ballack would you be upset, mad,  or just accept that you are no longer in your team’s plans?

- By Max