Schwerin’s volleyball trainer Koslowski gives up a second job with the national team

EFelix Koslowski will certainly not miss ines in his future work as a volleyball coach, after he recently finished his second job as coach of the women’s national team. The battle term “national coach bonus”, which came up again and again when he played with SSC Palmberg Schwerin in the Bundesliga and a controversial referee decision was in favor of his team. “That hurt me a lot,” says the 37-year-old. “I have always tried to act loyally and fairly.” But over the course of his six years as a national coach and club coach, he put on a thick coat and internalized that the accusation was not linked to himself, but was often used as a pseudo-argument when it supposedly fit. It still annoyed him.

In the area of ​​tension between the Volleyball Bundesliga and the German Volleyball Association (DVV), Koslowski received the signal some time ago that no national coaches should be employed who also work in a club in personal union. Of course, men’s national coach Andrea Giani also coaches the club team of Volley Modena in Italy. And DVV President René Hecht told this newspaper that there are only top coaches on the international market who ride twice. Solving the question of succession for Koslowski would otherwise be in the hands of sports director Christian Dünnes.

For Koslowski, who had worked for the association for 15 years, the decision still had to be made: Schwerin or Germany? “I’ve been thinking a lot over the past two months,” he says in the phone call he is making from Portugal. There his women from Schwerin will compete in the second round of the CEV Cup at AJM Porto this Wednesday. The club volleyball, as always in the autumn / winter season, is in full swing.

He had many conversations with the club and association, players and, last but not least, his wife, says Koslowski. The passionate volleyball coach, who ended his playing career early in favor of the line job, was born in Schwerin, lives there and is married to a woman from Schwerin. The couple have four children. “The family had to stand back for 15 years,” he says: “Now we can finally book a summer vacation.” Because in summer, the logic of the game plan in volleyball, the national teams contest their tournaments.

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With that, Koslowski gives up his dream of participating in the Olympics. In qualifying for Tokyo, the German team was in the final of the European elimination, but lost to Turkey in the fight for the only place reserved for Europe. “At that time we showed our best volleyball,” recalls Louisa Lippmann, who once matured into a world-class player in Schwerin and has since made a name for herself as a diagonal attacker in the top leagues in Europe. “Felix was a very big supporter and confidence trainer for me,” she says. But now it is important to look ahead, because she also has to consider: “After we missed the Olympic qualification, we no longer achieved the quality.”