School Days: Bastian Schweinsteiger

Our 'School Days' feature delves into the formative years of Manchester United's stars. Here, Bastian Schweinsteiger discusses his option of becoming a professional skiier and why he loved scoring goals as a striker...
How was school life for you?
I remember that school was always, more or less, from 8 o'clock in Germany – you had to start at eight. Afterwards, I went straight to playing football, to Munich, or went to skiing actually. So I was always leaving home and having to go to school to also be allowed to go to the mountains for skiing or off to play football.
Was it difficult juggling your sports interests with your education?
Let’s say it was not easy sometimes but, at the end, I could manage it. I was very happy when I had the right marks in school because my parents were satisfied with me.
Is it right that you could have been a professional skiier?Yes, where I grew up was close to Austria as well, with big mountains, and my father also actually won ski races. I was two-and-a-half the first time I went on the mountains skiing. I grew up, more or less, with that. When I was 14 years old, I had to decide whether to continue as a ski racer or be a football player 100 per cent. So I decided, let’s say, to go for the warm weather!
Was it dangerous to be skiing while also playing football?
No, at that time, I was not thinking if it was dangerous or not. It was very cold – minus 20 degrees sometimes in the morning and there was heavy stuff as you have to carry all your outfit and equipment with you. You have to wake up very early, so that was a little bit the point where I said ‘Okay, with football, it’s more you’ so I decided on only playing football.
Did you play any other sports at school?
At that time, I played a little bit of basketball and tennis but, actually, ice-hockey was something that we played a lot of times.
Which subject was your favourite in the classroom?I liked music actually; I don’t know why but it was always one of the easiest lessons at school. Sport, of course, as well and Biology a little bit. They were my favourites.
Which subject was your least favourite?
Physics. It was horrible!
Everybody says they had a favourite teacher, did you?
Yes, I had a favourite teacher. She was my English teacher and a director of the school. She understood I had a lot of things going on around me and understood all that. She helped me a lot and she became, more or less, a friend.
Did you play for the school football team and were you captain?
No, I was never actually captain at the school. It was always someone else. I was just a player who scored a lot of goals and that was it.
So did you play as a striker in those days?Yes, I think it’s quite normal that you always start as a striker; when you become a professional, if you ask the players more than 90 per cent were starting as a striker at school. I was the same, the same happened to me. It was quite cool actually, to score a lot of goals, but now I’m in a different position.
Do you have any advice for youngsters at school hoping to become professional footballers?
To make their parents happy, I think they should have the right marks at school and should focus on that. You never know what will happen. I also had some team-mates when I was 16 and they were really, really good but started to get injuries and couldn’t continue as football players. So they had to focus on school and it’s good to have good marks and grades and finishing school. If you’re injured, you can’t play football and have to do something else.