Winner the public vote of "Man Player of the Year": Interview with CJR
15 Mar 2011 at 21:00 | Published by: Hans | Views: 11095 | News search
Carl-Johan Ryner winner of the public vote for "Man Player of the Year" (Photo by Hans Bergström 2010)
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Interview with Carl-Johan Ryner (CJR), Sweden and Uppsala BGK
This interview was done the 15th of Mars 2011. Interviewer is Hans Bergström (HB).
HB: First of all congratulations to a great season of 2010 which lead to winning the public part of vote for “Man player of the Year” on Minigolfnews. Did you expect to win the vote?
CJR: Thank you. No, I certainly didn't expect to win. In fact, I was surprised that I was on the poll in the first place, until I read how players were nominated. I sided with the experts and had Marcel Noack as first.
HB: In the expert vote you where only placed in eight position. Any idea of why this big difference between the two votes?
CJR: A lot of Swedes at the Minigolfnews site and not that many Germans probably played in. I believe the experts looked more at the national teams, which I think is the correct thing to do.
HB: What were the highlight moments of your 2010 season?
CJR: The European Cup certainly. Being the favorites and playing like a division 2 team the first day and then being able to turn it around and win were great.
HB: You are now a married man with a small daughter. How has life as a family father affected your Minigolf career?
CJR: I have of course reduced the days I play a lot. I still try and play on Tuesday evenings when we have our weekly club competition, but I also practice on my lunch break three to four times a week. It doesn't give me the form I used to have, but it does help to keep me at a very high level. Earlier in my career I didn't always focus a lot during the practice days before competitions, but I do that now to make each shot count.
HB: So how do you feel about the upcoming season? How does your season planning look like for 2011?
CJR: The plan is to play a full season for the national team and for the club, but not much individual. So I'll be in Stockholm for the Nations Cup and World Championships as well as the three league weekends and the European Cup.
HB: What do you think about the 2011 Elitserie season and your team Uppsalas possibilities to defend the title once again?
CJR: With the reacquisition of one of the best all-around players in the world, Fredrik Persson. We are a stronger team than last year and that is of course a great thing. I think we will win the Elitserie again and if any team wants to stop us then they'll have to play all perfect matches.
HB: You where recently playing in Prague and won the Diamond Minigolf Masters invitational tournament. What is your opinion about this kind of tournaments with big prize-money only for selected stars?
CJR: As long as I am invited I'm for them! But kidding aside, I think it is a great way to market our sport outside the normal venues. I realize it could be a bit controversial to only have 12 players, but if you're going to get a good media coverage you can't play more than one day, and for that you cannot have many more than 12 players. You could increase to 16 and cut 4 after the preliminary rounds, but I think the 12-man field was a good size.
HB: You have officially stated not to like the KO-part of the international Championships so what is your opinion about the recently announced changes for WMF/EMF Championships to include both a stroke champion and a match play champion?
CJR: I must correct you on me not liking the KO-part. I do like the KO, but not when you play only half the lanes. I understand that it is a time issue, but now when there's two days of individual play, I think we should play 36 holes in each match and maybe cut down participants to 24 and give the 8 best the first round off.
The KO is a good competition for the spectators and we want more of those, but it's a bit harsh on the players sometimes. But if we're aiming for better exposure in the media and maybe live TV, we need to keep the KO. One really good thing from a playing standpoint is that you don't carry the result from the team competition with you to the individual finals.
As you maybe have understood I'm not for dual champions.
HB: What do you think about yours and Sweden's chances in Stockholm in August?
CJR: I always fancy my own chances in a competition. And with the victory in Prague, I have showed that I can win in the KO-system. Regarding the team, it very much depends on which players are available. In a good situation I think we can challenge Germany for the gold and if we manage to get all our top players, I think we are the team to beat.
HB: Last year in Predazzo quite many of the best Swedish players were not present of different reasons. Have you any knowledge of how the situation will be in Stockholm?
CJR: I'll be there, so that's one difference to Predazzo. I think many top players are still uncertain to whether they can participate or not. It will probably be a chain reaction. If we get a couple of the top players then more will follow. It's up to Janne as head coach to contact everyone and if I will be the captain again, I will also talk to the guys. This is probably the final time for every player to play a championship at home, we want the gold.
HB: What happens next for you in Minigolf?
CJR: A budget meeting for the club next week and the later in April Anders and I will hold a short seminar for a small group in Eskilstuna and as a final stop before the season, I will hold two courses in Bangolf Arena in Gothenburg. I probably will begin practicing in two-three weeks if I can remove the snow from the course.
HB: Again a big congratulation to winning the public part of vote for “Man player of the Year” on Minigolfnews and good luck in the future.
CJR: Thank you!
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