Lorik Drenica: the athlete, the student & beyond.
A NYSA pathway
As I’m welcomed into their accommodation in Jönköping on a crispy Tuesday morning I hear noise coming from the kitchen. I don’t wonder who that might be, I already know that is Lorik fixing his breakfast and preparing for the day. Before putting on a football podcast, we talk a little bit as he wanted to share with me that he is swapping his uppers workout to avoid fatigue due to futsal training later in the evening. I gratefully accept the information and after a couple of questions about my plans for the day, he proceeds to enjoy his morning.
It took a while to get to that point but the foundations were always there. A lifetime footballer, Lorik had a challenging upbringing which made him into who he is; a decent, strong, hard-worker in anything he got his hands on. Making his way through school and a couple of odd jobs, he always led an active life though he recognised he needed to take a different approach if he were to improve. Embracing the reality of football and looking towards his future, he realized he also sought to include a plan B in his arsenal. With this in mind and a spark of motivation from his local surroundings, he found NYSA and saw that the opportunities provided aligned with his objectives and ambitions.
“My journey before NYSA began in Knivsta my hometown in Sweden I played locally there. In the beginning it was about having fun and playing with mates until I realised I got too good; I got bit of notice around the area and then some people came up to me and told me you should play higher up so I said why not give it a try and yeah in the end it came true
NYSA expertise lies in understanding the needs and demands student athletes face in their career to succeed in both sport and education. NYSA fosters an environment of independence and self-realization, supporting a dual career athlete through a range of services tailored to individual needs. However, it is the athlete’s responsibility to take ownership and adopt the various opportunities they’re being shown as best practice.
“My expectations when I came here was to come into a good environment with lots of space for development and personal growth. I wanted to play higher up, in a better team playing against better oppositions so for me it was more to get into that level of football. I wasn’t working out that much back then, to be honest, so just hitting the gym alone was a target”
Lorik immediately immersed himself into the program. From day one, he has been leaning on the mentor sessions with a specialised dual careers mentorship practitioner. From developing mental skills needed for his football training, setting goals in the near/far future to learning to cope with everyday life, mentoring has enabled Lorik to cope if not thrive when confronted with life’s inevitable challenges. If there is one common situation all athletes share, in which all areas of a student – athlete’s life skills are required is that of an injury. However serious or mild injury sustained, the first and foremost skill is to be able to understand the injury and plan the journey to recovery which demands adaptations in every aspect in life such as training schedules (prioritizing mobility and recovery steps), nutritional adjustments, prioritizing studies with the increased amount of time freed up and of course, having the mental strength to follow through and come out stronger at the end of the process.
“It has been a privilege to journey with Lorik over the past 18 months in a mentoring capacity. Lorik’s hunger to learn and grow – both on and off the pitch are a testament to his character. Lorik doesn’t back down from challenges and his courage to embrace the difficult things head on has led to tremendous growth. Lorik is equally concerned with his performance on the pitch as he is with his personal growth and development. He is eager to learn, to grow, to develop and I can’t wait to see what his future holds. -Chris Mingay, Dual Careers Mentor
Lorik also engaged instantly with P3RFORM a remote-hybrid style of training and multi-disciplinary support ; soaked up the knowledge and experience they provided to learn, improve and progress as an athlete. He understood that he needed a high-performance support system for his objective of an elite athletic development. A year later, his progress is apparent;
“Lorik bought in the process with full commitment to the whole programme including daily mobility and core sessions. Within a couple of months his back pain has disappeared completely, core was stronger and he saw clear improvements in his pitch based movement. He is now in a place where he has the knowledge, confidence and ability to complete whatever exercises are thrown his way to meet the health and performance goals he sets himself. Has a strong and transparent relationship with myself as the Physical Performance Coach when the body is not feeling 100% updates match schedules to allow for weekly periodisation to ensure the highest performance level and freshness come match day” -Mitch Raynsford, Performance Coach @P3RFORM
Equally important for athletic development is the in-house support in performance analysis and the invaluable information Catapult-GPS pods provide. Nowadays, performance analysis is an essential tool in a footballers career which they need to understand and engage in the process in order to be successful. Technology and data-driven performance is the key to player profiling (e.g club transfers) and player development (training, monitoring or testing). Lorik has fully embraced this chapter of his sports career as he has been the most consistent player in delivering raw data for our analyst to study and provide objective feedback on his training. This has enabled NYSA to objectively assess his progress and tailor training drills according to his needs. It is also an intrinsical way to support and monitor how his progress in the gym translates to enhanced performance on the pitch.
“Incorporating GPS in my trainings gave me an insight into how much I run and in the beginning I wasn’t running at all I was pretty much walking and after getting that data and sitting through it and reading it I started to work harder on sessions and in games and then in the end it helped me improve and play better”
“The nutritionist at P3RFORM helped me a lot going through my meal planning before Ramadan started. My gym schedule changed a lot too because I was fasting but also because I injured my finger so I would have had more upper body sessions. P3RFORM helped me adapt my gym workouts so I can still work out and get stronger during Ramadan and in the end I was very happy with it. They have also always been in touch to follow up on how my day goes or how my week goes”
“I don’t buy as much sugar, as much candy or chocolate so I would start with that and its more protein, more carbs especially on match days I look more into what I eat now than I used to before and that’s the good side of it I would say. From Ramadan I’ve taken a lot of nutrition knowledge as well which has helped me sleep throughout the night”
Football knowledge, understanding of the game, performing actions on the pitch instinctively might sound natural and almost dependable on talent. However, it is the result of hard work on the pitch during training and, most importantly, off the pitch. Significant progress in Lorik’s understanding of the game comes from his own effort of wanting to improve. Hours spent listening to coaches, managers, ex-players through educational podcasts, webinars and interviews, reading up articles by sport scientists and practitioners from any competitive background or culture. And of course, countless, invaluable time spent watching football games, any game, any level, all competitions possible. The dedication is not only admirable but worth it, as Lorik himself has started to show improvements which when asked upon he mentions he did not have a coach tell him, he just knew. It is said that when you are able to teach someone else how to do something then that’s when you become a master yourself. Mentoring younger players within the squad is just the progress a coach hopes to see after a year.
“I think it’s very important to learn football outside the pitch because it will help you on the pitch. First, you have to be interested you have to have a passion to learn about what you actually want and then it’s just sitting down and taking the time to do that; it’s about patience, taking in everything you can and then when you get out on the field try the things you have seen, try the things you have learnt and even if it doesn’t work out well the first time, it doesn’t matter you just go and get it. For me, it’s about studying players in my position and watching games. I know a lot more about the game now; back to when I played local football it was more about joking around with your mates and now we always analyse games which has improved my performance on the pitch”
The one thing Lorik genuinely understands about the pathway NYSA provides is the importance of education and what achieving a degree parallel to a football career represents. It is a second chance in life to exploit at any given moment. It is that freedom to choose to follow your passion now, knowing that the future is already sorted whatever the outcome. And what better way to fulfil this with an 100% online degree while getting to enjoy the vibrant student life of a city like Jönköping.
“I’ve never lived in a big city before so this is something new for me but Jönköping has been very welcoming so far very nice people around and we have adapted really well into the community and into the uni life”
“Three important things to balance education and football? Well I would say the first thing is routines; if you don’t have routines the day could look messy. And then, it’s having fun I mean some people think it’s like illegal to have fun when doing serious things but it goes a bit further. The third thing which I would say is to enjoy what you do; if football and education isn’t for you then it isn’t for you but I found that it is something is for me so I am enjoying the process and that makes it a lot easier”
Can a person change? Is it simply the own person’s volition to change or does the environment force you to? Perhaps the person always had it in them and the environment just sparked that light and started the change. In any case, Lorik’s progress is pure, constant and multi-levelled. A vulnerable, open individual who is not afraid to trust others or reach out for help and advice; a responsible young man who is aware of his own strengths and weaknesses; that Lorik always existed though a year after NYSA mentoring and engaging with every person that came through the program (players, coaches, staff or simply living away from home), he is the best version of himself.
“For me it’s hard to say one aspect of the program which has had the largest impact, I think it’s a mix of everything combined which has truly build who I am right now. Changing positions was probably something I would have been able to learn only while being in NYSA. I was a centre back at first and then we went on the Wolverhampton trip I got told over there that I should be playing CDM or centre-mid so that made me think into a another position and made me look more into it and now I’m switched fully into that I don’t think that would have worked elsewhere to be honest. I knew that trip to Wolverhampton was coming up and it was nice, went really well and had lots of fun”
The NYSA pathway is a tough one, challenging an individual to their core but supporting them every step of the way. The athlete in Lorik is stronger and able to cope with tougher demands. Along with his first team duties at the club he is signed to, he engages in every opportunity to be involved with football with the goal in mind to develop himself both physically and technically. Playing futsal fine-tunes his skills and mentally challenges him whereas joining the university team is an extra chance to train, enjoy himself and even take a leadership role within the squad. Also, Lorik never misses a NYSA session absorbing every piece of advice to the letter, taking advantage of all the support available.
“I play for JBK and I’m looking forward to the season, to get as much game time as possible. I feel a lot fitter, smarter I would say and I know how to control the game which from my position is very important and I’ve kind of become the heart in the team there, which I enjoy”
“I think I’ve been very lucky with the things I’ve got so far so with the job side of things I won’t have as much uni because it’s summer so that’s why I found it as a replacement. Instead of doing uni I go into work. So I just switch out the education and put in work instead. So it will still be the football and uni but this time football and work, just so that I don’t fall out of the routines”
Managing and excelling in all these different aspects is what truly sets him apart and the outcomes are evident. At the incredible pace he is rising, he will no doubt reach the highest playing level sooner rather than later. Most importantly, he is on track to becoming an exceptional, well-rounded human being. For Lorik, sky’s the limit.
“If I went back in time to before NYSA, I would do it all over again. Absolutely, it’s been very fun and I look forward to tomorrow and see what’s coming next”
