When the new season of the win2day Basketball Superliga begins at the weekend, it will be a somewhat unusual experience for me personally: In the last 17 years, the first championship games as a coach were on the program during this time. And – with a season buffer – in the ten years before that, as a player, I was just out and about in the first part of the season.
Swaps tactics board for keyboard: Ex-Timervolves coach and women’s team boss Hubert Schmidt.
Photo: © GEPA
Since I also have a lot to do organizationally at the Vienna Timberwolves, the start of the coming season isn’t completely lost on me, but of course my coaching break offers a slightly different perspective on this basketball season. Above all, it is a good opportunity to reflect on what you have planned and done over the last few years (decades) before and during the preseason, how well the plans worked out and what you could perhaps optimize in the future.
The request was a no-brainer
The request from the BSL whether I would like to write a weekly league-related column fit in very well with these considerations. Since I had worked at LAOLA1.at for a long time, loved the job and only quit so I could delve deeper into basketball as a coach, the answer “yes” was of course a no-brainer.
Back to the actual topic, the preseason and the start of the season. Even though the Timberwolves focus on continuity and the squad usually changes to a manageable extent from year to year, it is always exciting to build the team starting with the basic rules. But above all, of course, with new arrivals, rookies from our own academy or even with a new assistant coach.
“No matter how many years you have as a coach and how hardened you are: the first championship game is always something special and exciting.”
Hubert Schmidt
I probably speak for all coaches when I say: No matter how familiar the players are with the philosophy or how early in the summer you start, time to prepare is always short. As soon as we meet in the hall for the first team training, the first test match is not far away.
Speaking of test games: results in the preseason are completely secondary, say many, especially the old foxes. But is that really the case and are they completely serious? Of course, you shouldn’t draw conclusions from victories or defeats in the preparatory games about the subsequent performance in the championship. Nevertheless, I think shared experiences of success are very important: Difficult situations that you have fought through as a team – often not through brilliant basketball means – build trust in each other, especially in newly formed groups, and can very well be groundbreaking for the first rounds.
No matter how hardened you are…
No matter how many years you have as a coach and how hardened you are: the first championship game is always something special and exciting. How does the team perform in the first emergency, how strong are you actually compared to the competition, which players react how to pressure, how does the coach-player dynamic work and what feeling do you get about your own approach as a coach?
You don’t know exactly what to expect and unexpected things often happen. Like our very first win against Kapfenberg last year – even though both US legionnaires were not yet eligible to play.
Player to watch: National player Renato Poljak moved to Wels.
Photo: © GEPA
This year I’m not looking forward to the first round with any excitement, but I’m no less excited because a lot has happened over the summer. The national players Renato Poljak, Daniel Köppel and Jakob Lohr, other Austrians (Paul Isbetcherian, Lukas Hahn, Elias Podany, Milan Dokmanovic) and Chris Ferguson have changed within the league, other “Ösis” are back or new in the BSL: Oscar Schmit , Lukas Reichle, Janis Tomaschek, Nikhil Sacher, Felix Leindecker, Obinna Ndukwe.
Many new Legionnaires, a new Spanish head coach at the ambitious Kapfenberg Bulls and generally more difficult to assess balance of power in the top field make for interesting conditions.
The development of Aleksej Kostic will also be exciting to watch: Young Austrian players of his caliber have recently moved abroad quite early, but examples like Thomas Schreiner and Thomas Klepeisz show that even as a mature BSL leader, you can still start an impressive international career can.
2023-09-27 15:00:45
#Basketball #Column #Hubert #Schmidt
