The difficult year after the ascent

Mario Schmidt

The HV Chemnitz women's handball team is currently in an unusual situation. Last season was the best in the club's history. With a "clean slate" of 22 wins, coach Thomas Sandner's team marched through the Oberliga and was promoted to the 3rd division with aplomb. However, after the first half of the season, the Chemnitz women find themselves in a relegation spot - currently two points away from relegation. However, those responsible are not panicking, as CEO Mario Schmidt explains. With calm and prudence, the team around him and coach Sandner has moulded the HVC into a successful club. Mario Schmidt explains how in this week's Doer of the Week interview.

Did you imagine the first year in the 3rd division would be so difficult?
Mario Schmidt: If you march through a Central German top division with 22 victories, you actually have a stable squad. Then you go into the new season with that. But if you lose key players, that's a bitter loss. That's why it's a shame that we find ourselves in this situation. We looked at the competition in the run-up to the season and realised that we can keep up. We were also able to keep up in pre-season matches against higher-class opponents.

So the situation is due to injuries?
Yes, we are currently without our former second division players Anja Schulze and Melanie Beckert. Our Croatian player Petra Starcek, a former Bundesliga player, has only been back on board since the end of December after a knee injury and torn muscle fibre. That's why we have to give a lot of responsibility to young players who we actually wanted to build up over a year or two.

What gives you hope of staying in the league?
We are optimistic that the injury list will be reduced and with our new signing Katarzyna Skoczynska we have another option. We still have ten games left and just have to make sure we get the points we need. We want to start doing that on Saturday. I also believe that the team is stable despite all the problems. We weren't shot down in the first half of the season either.

On Sunday, HSG Plesse-Hardenberg will visit the Sachsenhalle Chemnitz. Kick-off is at 4.30 pm. In the first leg, the HVC women were able to secure a 20:25 away win, one of two victories in the first half of the season. They naturally want to build on that. "Anja Schulze, our right wing, will probably be back in the squad and with Katarzyna Skoczynska we've signed another player in the winter break who will make us more versatile," says Mario Schmidt ahead of the "extremely key game".

500 kilometres to Birkenau on Saturday - you once spoke of "professional sport for amateurs". 4800 kilometres for the previous away trips on the bus. Isn't that frustrating sometimes?
You have to smile when you use the word "Oststaffel". And then you're travelling to Mainz, Birkenau, Plesse near Göttingen. It's a bit absurd when you play in an eastern division and then have to travel all the way to Mannheim. On the other hand, there aren't that many teams in the east: Frankfurter HC, which plays a very good role in the northern division, Altlandsberg and Schwerin. We also have HC Leipzig and Markranstädt in the league.

You have built something up here in recent years with calm and prudence - culminating in playing in the 3rd division again after 20 years. What can other clubs learn from you?
I don't know that either! In any case, it has something to do with stability and continuity. Of course, it also involves a bit of luck with the people involved. Thomas Sandner and I looked for and found each other 14 years ago. Back then, we were playing in the Sachsenliga. Then, two years later, Jörg Engelmann (editor's note: 2nd deputy chairman) joined us. As we are all on the same wavelength, it just fits.
We don't have to - how should I put it - force something through. Instead, we try to look a little to the left and right on the one hand and to always acquire the right people on the other. The continuity of the people involved, but also the stability in the team, is probably the recipe for success. We have a lot of girls who have been with us for a relatively long time and we have always managed to only have to make selective changes.
To say that everything was harmonious is nonsense. But when we had a row, we did it internally and didn't publicise it. It's important to speak the same language.

Schmidt's commitment to the HVC was born out of a beer mood that caught up with him years later - again on a beer mat. "My wife played handball and I used to sit in the stands to watch the games in the GDR and regional leagues," he says. At the end of the 1990s, he was asked at a Christmas party for the women's team whether he would like to volunteer for something at the club. "Because our son was a competitive swimmer and I was accompanying him, I cancelled. With the addition that they could ask me again in 2003." He wrote this answer on a beer mat. "This was put back on my desk in 2004 by the then President Kathrin Neumeier," says the managing director of a medium-sized lift company with a laugh.

But the sporting success still has to be right, otherwise there will be unrest.
That's true. But we are also trying to drive this forward in the long term. For example, we are gradually building up our work with children and young people in order to integrate our own youngsters into the women's teams. But then we also looked to see which potential newcomers from outside could fit in with us. We tended to look around in the neighbourhood. Nine years ago, we signed our first two players from Schneeberg. In 2010, we ventured a little further afield with Catrin Grützmann and Anja Noack, to Dresden and Görlitz. In 2011, we were promoted to the Mitteldeutsche Oberliga with both players. That's how we developed year by year, bit by bit. Then we also said to ourselves, handball is one thing, but we also have to make sure that we share it with the people around us. In the years 2010 to 2012, we worked with sponsors to spend a relatively large amount of money on advertising for our club. That is now paying off.

In sporting terms, you may be relegated, but you are in first place of all 48 third division teams in terms of spectator favour. Does that make you proud?
Definitely! It does make you proud. Especially now with the game against
HC Leipzig, when there were over 500 spectators in the arena. That's really crazy. The crazy thing is that you've grown with it, but sometimes you have to pinch yourself. I also believe that the whole team is proud and enjoys playing here. You can tell that too.

Do you sometimes consider playing your home games in a sports hall near the city centre?
The Sachsenhalle is our home hall. I think we'd have to have a stable 500 spectators before we'd think about going anywhere else. The hall fits 650 people and the proximity of the crowd to the pitch and the support are just right. The Sachsenhalle was also improved for our promotion. I have to say thank you to the city in particular. We had the problem that the distances between the spectators and the pitch were not right. That was revised and implemented.

Are you actually disappointed that handball now plays a subordinate role in the city?
On the one hand, I think that we as HVC have awoken handball from its slumber. On the other hand, far too few clubs are doing anything in the children's and youth sector. And when something does happen, we don't necessarily work together. Over the years, we haven't managed to broaden our handball programme in order to be able to say that we have something to offer basketball in the city.

Will that improve again?
We're having a relatively good run in the mini section. We have 25 children there. We hope that we can get them through well. Our B youth team is currently in third place in the Sachsenliga. We have some really good talent here, and we expect to see them in League 3 in one to three years' time. Overall, our membership remains constant at around 150, half of which are children and young people. However, in order to develop further in the future, we all need to rethink things. Handball is a demanding technical sport, so it's not enough to train just once a week. We pack our children far too much in cotton wool. Coaches' decisions are often criticised, which doesn't make it easy for them. Handball is a team sport, so it's not just about the individual. The person sitting on the bench is also part of the team and is guaranteed to get his playing time. We should all put our egos in the background. Then I'm optimistic that handball will continue to progress.

Is there actually a goal that you want to achieve with the club in the next few years?
We want to stabilise the 3rd division. That is the main goal. Another goal is to make our work with children and young people consistent. We actually want to play in the Sachsenliga in all age groups. All age groups means D-, C-, B-youth. At the moment, we only play with the B team in the Sachsenliga.

Final question - far removed from sport - Chemnitz wants to become the European Capital of Culture in 2025. What do you think of that?
No matter what projects you tackle, it's always important to present yourself to the outside world. I worked in Leipzig for many years, so you have to be strong as a Chemnitz resident. I say, take a look at the city centre. There may not be a city centre like in Leipzig or an old town like in Dresden. But Chemnitz also has beautiful, interesting corners. Even if you look at the museum landscape, Chemnitz has something to offer.
Chemnitz is always overshadowed by other cities. I don't see that as a negative thing. I think that can only bring the city forward. I always have the feeling that we are in a deep sleep and are not even recognised from the outside. But the city deserves it. I like living here.