No half measures

Susann Drechsel & Andreas Wagner

The Women's Basketball Bundesliga season opener will take place in the Hartmannhalle on 27 and 28 September. This will be the second time that the season opener, for which all twelve teams in the top German league will be guests in Chemnitz, has been held in the city since 2011. In addition to the favourable conditions, this is also due to last season's surprise team, the ChemCats. The organisers behind the season opening and the sporting success are also our organisers of the week. They are volunteers, such as President Andreas Wagner and his deputy Susann Drechsel.

Susann, you played for the ChemCats yourself. Why don't you tell us what made you take up basketball when you were a girl?
Susann Drechsel: Before that, I did competitive athletics. Until I was 20 and then I didn't make the leap. My coach thought it might be better for me to look for a new sport. I already had contacts with basketball because we did athletics training together. So I thought to myself: ok, just give it a go there. I really enjoyed it and still do to this day. I'm no longer active, but I'm still involved in the background.

And then you felt so connected to the club that you wanted to stay involved after your active playing career?
Susann Drechsel: Yes, that's exactly how it was. I played from 2001 to 2009. But due to injuries, I was already more involved in administration. And I just enjoyed it so much that I stuck with it. And yes, it's a matter close to my heart.

After a relatively successful 2009 season, the ChemCats hit hard times. The club finally filed for insolvency and reorganised itself. With the insolvency came forced relegation and many personnel changes.

Andreas, you joined in 2009. What was your motivation then? The ChemCats weren't going through an easy time back then either...
Andreas Wagner: I didn't have any drive at the beginning. I was asked when it came to discussing all the problems that existed at the time, what it would look like to continue the club or perhaps even found a new club. I am still the president of another sports club with around 300 members and several divisions.
I simply didn't want to take on a role because I'm very busy. I'm also self-employed and have to earn a living every day. But then we founded the club in 2009, divided up the functions and then I just said: Ok, I'll do the sports section. One or two others had also quit at this point and we didn't want to just give up. We wanted to carry on. And then we found each other, just as we are now. And then at some point it was a matter of the heart for me. I don't do things by halves. When I do something, I do it with real passion.

You re-founded the club in 2009 and started again in the Bundesliga 2. What was the goal then?
Susann Drechsel : The goal wasn't actually to get promoted again straight away. So not officially. Secretly, maybe a little bit, because you have an athlete's heart somewhere and always want to achieve the highest possible level. In women's basketball, that's the premier league. But you can't plan that. You can't say "tomorrow we'll be promoted and the day after tomorrow we'll be champions." You have to take a long-term view. Once we've established ourselves, we want to look a little higher again.

So you don't see yourselves as established?
Susann Drechsel: The league is difficult to assess. You saw that last year. The last-placed team can beat the first-placed team and vice versa, of course. Two points more and we would have finished second, two points less and we would have been out of the play-offs.
Andreas Wagner: Once we've played in the first division for another three years, then you can say that we're established. And then you can also look upwards. The goal is already there. But until then, we still have a lot to do at the club. To get the structures right. We have now put together a young team, 20 years old on average, and would like many of them to stay and play together beyond the season.

Are you surprised that the ChemCats, like last season, are back at the top of League 1 after such a short time?
Andreas Wagner: We've already seen that we didn't have a bad team. Even in preparation. After the opening win in the season opener against Osnabrück, we were still cautious, but then you win the second and third at home against Wasserburg, the champions. That's when we said: of course we have to look up now. We can't just say that we don't want to get relegated.

What was your recipe for success to achieve this?
Susann Drechsel: The team. The team chemistry. If it's not right and you have five lone warriors on the pitch, then it doesn't work. Even if one of them falls out of line, it will be difficult.

How do you put this team together? That's primarily a question of character...
Susann Drechsel: Basically, it works like this: there are agencies with a pool of players and we send them an enquiry. We need a player for this or that position, preferably at least this tall and this tall, and she must not cost more than this or this much. We then get back a list of maybe five to ten players. There is a video and a CV for each of them. What can they do, what do they do, where have they been so far? If you're lucky, you still have contact with the previous coaches and can simply ask them: are they more of a worker in terms of attitude or do they rest on their laurels and what is their character like? In the end, it's still always a lottery.
Andreas Wagner: But you also realise in the conversations: does the player suit you or not? Regardless of what she can do athletically. Quite simply as a person. I'm the oldest person in the "shop". I've already got a bit of life experience under my belt. We demand: Our professionals have to support our youngsters, be role models at the club and act properly in the city. That's important to me and we tell all the players the same thing. And if a player can't and won't do that, then she won't play for us.

What goals have you set yourselves for this season?
Susann Drechsel: It will be very tight again this year. We're aiming for the play-offs for now.
Andreas Wagner: That means no more than eighth place for now. Anything higher is good. And our young players have to work for it.

It's noticeable in your squad that you rely on a lot of young talent from the region. How important is your own youth development work for the future?
Andreas Wagner: The foundation we need to create is to invest in well-trained coaches. That is simply part of our competitive sports concept. Then we have the advantage of the sports high school. The girls are well looked after there in terms of sport and school. Our coaches can also help organise the training there.
The ultimate goal is to attract lots of young girls to the club and get them interested in the sport so that, once they have experienced all this, they decide to pursue a competitive career with us. And we want to send players from this base to the national team. That rubs off downwards and is an incentive when the girls see that someone made it into the U20 or U17 team last year. It's also a great experience to play an international tournament in Portugal. We have girls who are in the eleventh grade at the sports high school and now we are preparing them for the national league. These are our girls, we are planning with them. For us, the Bundesliga also has the responsibility of providing the financial basis for our work with young talent. The ChemCats are a club.

Is this close link between the Bundesliga and the young players what makes your youth work so successful?
Susann Drechsel: The little ones in particular look up to the big ones. So it's even better when they are successful in turn. That's something we live by, as we saw last season. The little ones go up to the players after the ChemCats games and clap their hands and collect autographs. You can also see from the "kids" who are already playing in the Bundesliga that they are really proud and that it is almost an honour to be able to take part here. That should be a sign for all the younger players: You have the chance to play at the very top.
Andreas Wagner: We were on the stage at the Wall during the city festival. Our 16-year-olds said "I'm allowed to train in the Bundesliga." That shows me that we've taken the right path. On the one hand, it shows respect and, on the other, that they want it. We didn't say the words and that's why I was a bit impressed and pleased myself.

Maybe you could outline that: How do you find the right talent? Do they come to you or do you sift through games?
Andreas Wagner: It's mostly done by an employee of the Basketball Association of Saxony. He runs 30 or 31 working groups at the schools. He scouts the players there for the Niners and for us. We also have taster sessions every Monday. This means that the basketball players here in the city are already leading the way in recruiting young talent. And then, of course, there are always a few contacts through friends and acquaintances. We make quite a lot out of the relatively few children we have. This is where the investment in our coaches pays off. If you form one national player out of 20 girls, that's a brilliant quota.

You are currently the most successful ball sports club in Chemnitz. Does that make you proud?
Susann Drechsel: Basically, you're proud of your own performance. You don't compare yourself with other sports. Every sport has different requirements. I think the city as a whole offers very good sport with many top-class clubs. Unfortunately, this is sometimes overlooked. It's not just the ball sports. That's why I think the term "sports city" is justified and is also lived to a certain extent.
Andreas Wagner: We are relatively modest in this respect and are happy when others achieve good results. We also supported the construction of the football stadium. It is certainly not easy for the city to make such decisions, but that will help us all in sport. I am happy to support anything that is forward-looking. What I can't support is grumbling. Grumbling is not at all typical of ChemCats. I'm rigorous about that. We have to sell the city well to the outside world. We have good conditions. We have the Schloßteichhalle and the Hartmannhalle. Nobody has any reason to say anything negative about them. Anyone who does that should travel with us and have a look at the halls elsewhere.

With the second season opening after 2011, you have once again brought a top event to Chemnitz. How did you do that?
Susann Drechsel: You have to apply for the Season Opening and in the end you have to be lucky enough to have put in the best application. This year it worked out again.

Why does the league seem to like coming together in Chemnitz? Is the city a good place for women's basketball?
Susann Drechsel: I think it's generally because the conditions here are good. For one thing, the Hartmannhalle, which gets a bit more modern every year - now with a scoreboard.
Andreas Wagner: And great hall staff!
Susann Drechsel: And generally short distances. I've already been to other season openings. It's a five-minute walk from the Mercure, where almost all the teams are staying, to the hall. Not a 20-minute car journey like elsewhere. That is appreciated. The games are also broadcast on the internet. We have a good partner in Sachsen Fernsehen. Especially in comparison: in other halls it's the small hand-held camera and we have a proper television camera with the appropriate quality. So for everyone who can't be there, they can watch it on the internet at home.
Andreas Wagner: Of course we're happy when everyone comes to the arena. I think the DBBL is also happy that we're doing this. They hadn't experienced anything like this before they were here in 2011 and then we said: We'll do it again. But of course it's also good image advertising for us and for women's sport as a whole. We bring 600 to 700 overnight stays to Chemnitz. That's also important. They come from all over Germany. From Saarlouis, from Bremen and they get to know Chemnitz. Everyone - and this is the curious thing - everyone who talks to us says "Wow, this is a beautiful city". They all think we still have soot on the roofs and roads.

What other hopes do you have for the season opening?
Andreas Wagner: My hope is that many other players will see the conditions we have here and that one or two good or top players will come to us in the coming years. We need the top players if we really want to attack the top in four or five years' time. Word has to get around. That's a process. You can't do it with one season opening and you can't do it with two. Maybe we'll do the next one in two years' time. We're so into it by now. But I really hope that many players and officials will realise that: Something is really happening in Chemnitz.

You immediately got fully involved in our "The city is me" campaign and wanted to wear our logo. Where does this strong identification come from?
Andreas Wagner: Susann has been in this city for a long time. We do our sport here, are supported by all kinds of people, live here and work here. We are in this office and in the hall every day. You simply have to support what is supposed to move the city forward. We stand by that and we mean that honestly. We are in favour of this city because we live here and can practice our sport here under good conditions. There's no "but" about it. That's one hundred per cent. I'm not going to bring any other philosophy down. We will always present the good side of Chemnitz at all times. If I start talking about what's bad, we won't get anyone here. I don't need to tell anyone that there are problems. They exist everywhere. I already liked the campaign when it was presented. And now everyone has to play their part. For us, "everyone" is the player. That's why we wear the campaign logo on our playing kit. Who else should we be campaigning for? For Magdeburg or Halle?
I'm also glad that something like this exists. From a selfish point of view, it's simply a way for us to present the ChemCats in the city. It also allows us to develop as a brand and make ourselves better known in the city. So that people say: this club is an institution, it lives here and also enhances the image of this city. If everyone knew us, it would be all the better. Not everyone knows us yet - that's what we're getting out of the campaign.

Do you have to encourage the people of Chemnitz to stand by their city?
Susann Drechsel: What does encouragement mean? Anyone who walks through the city with open eyes can actually see that something has really been created here. Encouragement is when I see a hopeless situation somewhere, then I have to encourage someone so that things can somehow continue. I don't see that here. The people of Chemnitz should simply put the positives first and then move on to the points of criticism. Then you can see the whole thing from a completely different perspective. When a coach criticises his players, he should always start with something positive and only then say what was done wrong. I would give the Chemnitz players a similar message. Look first: What do we actually have in the city? There really are a lot of things.
Andreas Wagner: I think you should have a bit of courage if you want to continue living here. Because it doesn't make you happy if you're always frustrated. It doesn't get any better. You can walk through the city with a critical eye. I also have things that I sometimes don't like, where I think: "Wow, maybe that should be changed. But I don't always have to tell everyone about it. There are other ways to sort things out. We also started from scratch and everyone asked: What's going to happen? Everyone recognises what is critical. The city councillors and the Lord Mayor see that. But you shouldn't forget what it looked like here in 1989 and what has been created in 25 years.