Rodelsee starts with many question marks
Many teams would probably consider the third place in the handball district upper league a success. Not so TSV rodelsee, which achieved this ranking last season. "You have to say that last year’s third-place finish was more of a letdown for us," says TSV coach radovan suchy, not wanting to hide the fact that the former third-division team’s performance didn’t necessarily make for a pat on the back.
For suchy, however, the course of the past season was not entirely unexpected. After TSV had waived its right to promotion in the 2017/18 season as champions of the upper district league, it was foreseeable that it would be difficult in terms of motivation. But there was no alternative to the waiver at the time, because the players would have been too rough in the landesliga, as the coach explains. So the rodelsee team once again competed only at the highest district level – and, in suchy’s opinion, did not make full use of their potential. "We had more potential, but we clearly lost the decisive games, so that it was not enough for more than third place," says the coach.
Will the upcoming season see a renewed attack on the throne of the upper district league?? Suchy is skeptical. Too many question marks surrounded the team before the start of the season for him to love to make rude statements about the fight. The trainer admits that he is "not particularly satisfied" with the preparations. On the one hand, persistent personnel problems meant that many a test match fell through, while on the other hand, the shortage of personnel massively hampered the training work.
He was hardly able to set any focal points in the sessions, says the 42-year-old. Particularly in terms of play and tactics, only a few targeted measures were possible. That’s why the focus was on creating a physical foundation and developing the players individually. In any case, throwing training was high on the agenda for the rodelsee team.
Only experienced hard once
But the team could only prove its competitive toughness in the cup against giebelstadt. She lost with 27:29. Due to the lack of match practice, the trip this weekend to the opening opponent in bad neustadt is therefore certainly a trip into the blue. "For me, the first game of the season is also a preparation game," explains the coach, who is counting on gaining important insights.
In terms of personnel, however, rodelsee will start the race with one or two changes. At almost 41, regular goalkeeper thomas paul has retired from his active career. He is to be replaced by the reactivated marco wagner, who – together with the A-youth player jan baumann – forms the new goalkeeping team of TSV. The team has won back an experienced coach in the form of the circle runner bastian demel, who already threw balls and goals for rodelsee in third league times. At the bavarian league team in waldbuttelbrunn, where demel was last active, the terrain had become too rough for him. On the losing side, in addition to goalkeeper paul, there are michael burger, moritz reichhard and christian robmark.
"Our primary goal will be to bring in the young players," suchy clarifies. The four A-youth players will start this season with double playing rights for the TSV. The trainer is prepared for setbacks due to the lack of experience of the young players. He says: "when we are complete, we are competitive and can play in the front third."
