Gifted people don't have it easy either.

Especially if your skills are not limited to just one profession.

What to do?

leave what

With what intensity?

And why actually?

These are the questions that people who have a special degree of creativity have to deal with.

Achim Dreis

sports editor.

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Benjamin Patch is such a person.

Athlete, Artist, Activist.

Whoever described the Berliner by choice – born 27 years ago in Utah, active in the German capital since 2018 – as a volleyball professional did nothing wrong at first.

But he didn't get to the core of the guy.

Because Patch has always been able to do more than smash balls onto the ground - and above all he wanted more.

Versatile his interests, multi-layered his nature.

The 2.05 meter tall American was German champion three times in his four seasons as a diagonal attacker with the Berlin Volleys - the fourth title remained vacant because the 2020 season was canceled due to Corona.

Patch was regularly the best attacker, his game spectacular and thrilling, but not for its own sake, but goal-oriented and effective - which manifested itself in the fact that he was the best attacker both in pure scores and in the polls.

It's not enough for him anymore.

"I've decided to take a break from volleyball," he announced in an open letter to "fans, friends and family" of BR Volleys.

He "lost the fun of the game a little bit," he writes in it.

For all his love of volleyball, he sees nothing wrong in moving in a different direction.

Patch wants to dedicate himself more than before to his art and fashion projects, to "invest in my personal development".

Benjamin Patch not only shaped the volleys with his presence on the field, but also beyond.

He came out as queer and thus opened up the sports world, which often seems so closed off, to a socio-political topic.

It's not usual for someone like him to feel so comfortable in a team, he once said, well aware of his special position.

He also used his talent for photography and his ability to reach out to people, to open them up - and designed the Volleys' official team calendar ahead of last season.

With images that attempted to depict teammates as individual beings.

The standard representation had always bothered the aesthete in the athlete, the numbered and uniformed nature of sport did not fit his image of humanity.

The proceeds from the calendar benefited the Berlin City Mission.

Because Patch also wanted to give something back to the city, which opened up perspectives for its development.

The year before, he had the association auction a number of vases that he had made in his studio.

Now he wants to focus more on his fashion designs.

Benjamin Patch gives the impression that he doesn't know what to do with his creative energy.

It hardly needs to be mentioned that he is a gifted dancer.

Although Patch has signed a contract until mid-2024, Volleys managing director Kaweh Niroomand is letting his star go, knowing full well that he couldn't have forced him to play anyway.

"Unfortunately, with him, our team will lose a personality in the coming season who shaped and embodied our club and the city of Berlin," said Niroomand in the style of an obituary.

He leaves it open whether Patch will return again.

He only wanted to promise that he would not compete for any other club apart from the volleys.

Berlin or nothing at all.