Kai Lammert: The Quiet Achiever of Paralympic Football
Kai Lammert has been the National Paralympic Assistant Coach for 6 years.
Kai is a top level UEFA B Licenced Coach and successful (able bodied) National Championship winning Coach in his own right. Kai took the NSW Metro State team to the Australian Boy’s National Championships and guided them to a gold medal winning performance.
“Having been a Head Coach for so long it wasn’t easy adapting to the National Assistants role and I had some reservations. The thing is Paul and I are ‘on the same page’ and I believe we complement each other. So really it is more like a partnership and Brownie knows how to involve his staff” said Kai.
An ex German professional player, Kai played for VFL Osnabrueck for 6 years in the German professional leagues. Now he is intent on guiding the Australian National Paralympic Team to the London Paralympics in 2012.
When asked about his coaching philosophy Kai said “players must trust and believe that they can play good football and to play to win games”.
When you ask Kai about his biggest disappointment in football, he replies “definitely our last game against England, in Rio, for a berth in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. This was a game that should have definitely gone our way. We hit the post, the crossbar, missed a penalty, Brownie and I were gutted. I still look back on that game and we did everything right, preparation, strategy, game plan, but then, that’s football”
When asked about the 2011 World Championships in The Netherlands Kai said “It is going to be tough in Europe, but we have a tough committed squad and I believe we can do it.
Paul Brown commented, “I have nothing but praise for Kai. He is one of the most professional Coaches I have ever had the good fortune to work with. I know that if I wasn’t there for some reason the squad would carry on as normal. He has a good football brain and sets high standards for himself and the players.
Kai enjoys being involved with the National Team, loves the great personalities and enjoys the competition at International level. “It’s great to see these players that we have been working with for the past 6 years finally come of age”.
