She was a lovely and normal teenager. But about two years ago Dorothea Seitz started to train memory techniques. Now she is still lovely but stands out of the crowd: In October 2008 she went to Bahrain and competed against 43 memory athletes from all over the world – and became Junior World Memory Champion. Dorothea is able to memorize 189 words in 15 minutes and is not afraid to turn eighteen to compete against the adults. Memory-Sports.com spoke with the sixteen years young lady:

A competition is always a struggle against yourself. It is not about what others think of you, it is about achieving what you aspire.

Memory-Sports.com: When did you first hear about memory sports?

Dorothea Seitz: It was in early 2007. I read something about it online and wished for a book according to the techniques. The one I got was “A Sheep Falls Out of the Tree” by Christiane Stenger. I was fascinated how quick my progress was.

Memory-Sports.com: Did you imagine to follow Christiane’s footsteps and become Junior World Memory Champion?

Dorothea Seitz: No, but I always thought about how great the feeling must be, to be some kind of champion.

Memory-Sports.com: What is your favourite discipline?

Dorothea Seitz: In the beginning I trained binary numbers exclusively. Although it is the discipline with the least daily meaning, I really liked it somehow.

Memory-Sports.com: Did you have any expectations for the North German Championship 2009?

Dorothea Seitz: I always expect too much from myself and get disappointed. My goal was to reach the 4.000 points, but I didn’t. And I wanted to compete with the adults, to prepare for next year, when I become eighteen.

Memory-Sports.com: So you keep on memorizing and don’t stop on top of your success?

Dorothea Seitz: No, it would be to easy to call it quits and keep the title. A competition is always a struggle against yourself. I want to accomplish my personal goals and prove it to myself. It is not about what others think of me, it is about achieving what I aspire.

Memory-Sports.com: Since it is your last year as a junior, which championships are you planning to visit?

Dorothea Seitz: I will go to Hamburg this summer and compete at the German Championship. And of course I will fly to Bahrain once more to the World Memory Championship – to try my luck again.

Memory-Sports.com: You would have placed third, nearly second in the adults event at the North German Championship, if it wouldn’t have been noncompetitive. Are you confident to get into the act, when you will join the adults events next year?

Dorothea Seitz: I am pretty encouraged, especially since I thought about giving up the memory sport on the first day of the competition. But that’s the case at every championship I compete. Now I am highly motivated to go on, since I got a few results I never accomplished before at a tournament. Actually I am satisfied with every discipline except Speed Cards.

It’s fun to train my brain and seek for bigger and better challenges.

Memory-Sports.com: With some of your scores you are already able to hold the candle to the most of adult memory athletes in the world. In Random Words for example, you memorized 189 words in 15 minutes – that’s rank 5 in the world. What do you think about that?

Dorothea Seitz: Words are something I am good with, because you don’t need so much of a technique rather than your natural memory. With numbers and binaries you need much more training, to become excellent. I prefer language orientated disciplines, like Poem, where your techniques don’t have such an impact on your results.

Memory-Sports.com: What are your goals in Memory Sports?

Dorothea Seitz: To get better in the world ranking list, which is difficult in the moment, since the junior scores are not part of it. Apart from that I will go on, because the other athletes are great. And of course it’s fun to train my brain and seek for bigger and better challenges.

Memory-Sports.com: Did you experience anything negative because of the sport?

Dorothea Seitz: Most of the people don’t know it and think strangely about what I’m doing. My classmates call me “World Memory Champion” and “Super-Brain”. They don’t mean it basely, but it’s very annoying. People who don’t know me better, define me through this accomplishment.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you think, there is any potential for memory sports to become a sport for masses?

Dorothea Seitz: I wish it very much. But even on my school, with many highly skilled students and a special class for memory training, there are only a few interested in it. It would be great if the sport would make it big.

Memory-Sports.com: Would you like to compete against your inspiration Christiane Stenger?

Dorothea Seitz: Sure, but I don’t think that she still is in training. She is not competing any more and I doubt getting the chance to match with her.

Memory-Sports.com: You are following Christiane Stenger in other aspects, too: There is a rumor, that you are writing a book about memory techniques – is that right?

Dorothea Seitz: Yes, I was asked to write one and I agreed and signed the contract.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you have any help?

Dorothea Seitz: No, I will work on it allone. On one hand I will write about the history of the techniques and my personal experience. On the other hand I will go into detail about mental arithmetics, speed reading and other possibilities to train the brain. It will probably be called “Neurons on the ready, go!” because that’s the start signal on the championships. I want to popularise Memory Sports and show to the people, who are always missunderstanding me, what I am doing. It will be released in April, 2010.

Memory-Sports.com: We are looking forward to it. Thank you for your time.

Dorothea’s Memory Statistics

Read More

There are few people in the world with such a brilliant memory like him. Although everybody can learn and train the same techniques Johannes Mallow is using, only a handfull of athletes juggle their images as skilled like the postgraduate from Magdeburg, Germany. Suffering from a cureless desease, the young man is phisically handicapped. Memory-Sports spoke with the sparkling mind:

It is equilibrium to be able to compete with others

Memory-Sports.com: When did you start to train your brain?

Johannes Mallow: In 2003 I watched the „Grips Show” (Grips means savvy in German) in television. Former German champion Dr. Gunther Carsten has shown the technique to memorize 20 digits to a celebrity. When I heard, that everybody could learn it, I searched online, found MemoryXL and started to train.

Memory-Sports.com: How long did you prepare before you entered your first championship?

Johannes Mallow: It was about a year. On the MemoryXL-Website you can download a free tool to train the techniques and compare your results with other users. I thought it was pretty cool, because it is a big difference than train for yourself. Since I was quite good with it and reached a high rank, I wanted to try it on a real competition. In addition it was a chance to meet the people behind their online aliases.

Memory-Sports.com: You are suffering from a physically limiting affliction?

Johannes Mallow: Yes, it is called muscular dystrophy. There are different types of it. In my case it affects my skeletal muscles, which are reducing over time.

Memory-Sports.com: Has your affliction been a motivation to train your brain, since you aren’t able to compete physically with other people anymore?

Johannes Mallow: Not originally, but in retrospect it is equilibrium to be able to compete with others. Back then I played table tennis in a club, which wasn’t possible anymore at a certain point. Therefore it is likely, that subconsciously I am motivated to give my best.

Memory-Sports.com: Does the memory sport help you to deal with your handicap?

Johannes Mallow: Probably not only the sport itself, but the whole community behind it. I’m getting great self-confidence from the positive feedback for my classes and performances.

Memory-Sports.com: Tell us more about your classes.

Johannes Mallow: I work for the Verein für Hochbegabtenförderung e.V. – a German club for intellectually gifted children. Twice a month I teach them the memory techniques, with a strong focus on tournaments. Right now we are preparing for the North-German-Championship. Furthermore I speak in schools, adult education centers and in private seminars. It is sort of my second foothold.

Memory-Sports.com: What do you do for your living?

Johannes Mallow: Last year I finished my studies in communications technology. Currently I work as a Ph.D. student at the University of Magdeburg. Originally I am responsible for the magnetic resonance tomography. But since I work for a brain research study, I do a combination from both of it.

Memory-Sports.com: How did the training help your daily memory?

Johannes Mallow: Actually it didn’t help much. If I want to remember something and consciously use the techniques, I can memorize much more than before. But partly I am still as scatterbrained as always and forget my keys or appointments. If I don’t use it consciously, I don’t have any advantage.

Memory-Sports.com: How much do you train each week?

Johannes Mallow: It depends on an upcoming championship. But normally I train about half an hour a day.

I don’t set limits to myself and automatically get better and better.

Memory-Sports.com: How long did it take you to learn the master system with 1.000 images (3-System)?

Johannes Mallow: The learning process itself didn’t take much time. But to find proper varying images was a good deal of trouble. Having rum and vodka in your system confuses you. You’re only remembering being drunk in your story – but not with whereby. The first memorizing of the system took me about two weeks. Over the years the recall picks up the pace.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you think that you would have come so far with the normal Master-System with 100 images (2-System)?

Johannes Mallow: Definitely not! Especially with Historic Dates it helped me a lot. You can memorize a whole date with only one image. Otherwise it would be two images – that’s twice as much to remember. When your 3-System is running properly, there is no difference with the recall of your images compared to a 2-System. It’s definitely worth the effort. On the other hand you can become pretty successful with a 2-System, as you can see with athletes like Boris Konrad and Clemens Mayer.

Memory-Sports.com: You have two world records: Historical Dates (110 ½ dates) and Speed Numbers (405 digits). Are those two your favorite disciplines?

Johannes Mallow: Yes, especially the Historical Dates. But with both disciplines I recognize an ongoing amplify in my results. I don’t set limits to myself and automatically get better and better. This is fascinating and a lot of fun.

Memory-Sports.com: Are your training results close to your records?

Johannes Mallow: Pretty close, yes. The 405 digits at the World Memory Championship last year have been my personal best at this time. A year ago, I could safely memorize 320 digits. Today – with a bit of luck – it is far more then 400. I think there is still a lot of potential.

Memory-Sports.com: You have been North-German Champion three-times in a row, German Champion and placed third at the World Memory Championship last year. Do you aim for the crown?

Johannes Mallow: Of course – at least I’ll try. Last year it was a close heads-up for the second place. But on the other hand there are many strong opponents in the field, like Ben Pridmore, Dr. Gunther Carsten, Simon Reinhard and Cornelia Beddies – just to name a few. It will be a hard battle, but I’ll give my best.

Memory-Sports.com: What do you think about the World Memory Championship being hold in Bahrain for the third time in a row?

Johannes Mallow: Personally I don’t like it very much. I’ve been to Bahrain twice now and it was a great experience. But the location should change more regularly. On the other hand I can see their point: Their sponsor is really generous and funds the World Memory Sports Council the Championship and the high prize money.

Memory-Sports.com: What did change in the world of memory sports since your first competition?

Johannes Mallow: There is a big community effect, thanks to the different platforms. The German Brainboard for example is great to exchange knowledge. And then of course the Memory Sports Statistics and the Online Memory Challenge. Once a week you can meet people in the internet and compete against each other. Everything grows together. Back then the athletes saw each other only at the competitions. Nowadays it intertwines much more.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you have any suggestion how to make the sport more popular for visitors?

Johannes Mallow: I philosophized with Simon Reinhard once about creating more heads-up situations like in the US Championships. Imagine duels where the opponents surpass each other, like one is memorizing 80 digits in a minute and the next one 100. That would be pretty interesting for any visitor. But the old disciplines shouldn’t be neglected. A good mix would be perfect. Something like this should happen.

Memory-Sports.com: What do you wish for the future of the sport?

Johannes Mallow: More and bigger competitions. It would be nice, if more people would start with memory sport and compete regularly at championships, so that there would be a necessarily preselection. I would love to see a growing community.

Memory-Sports.com: Thank you for your time and good luck with the crown!

Johannes Memory Statistics

Images with Johannes Mallow: Dirk Mathesius

Read More