An Interview with a Youth Football Coach: Reflecting on the Successful Season and Looking Ahead to the Future

Jan, nice that you take the time. In the end, we can all look back on a very successful year in the junior division. What is your personal conclusion?

If you look at the development over the past five years, all the teams have established themselves. The most important thing for me is that the young players develop every season. In terms of external representation, the successes of recent years are of course positive and ensure good feedback. I think we’ve achieved both this season and I’m more than happy with that.

Last year they just barely stayed up and this year they came in runners-up and won the second cup in a row – the U19s were particularly successful this season. Apart from the strong 2004 vintage, what do you think contributed to this positive development?

The U19 team has many talents in their ranks who bring with them special individual qualities. Especially this season they have managed to act as a team on the pitch and to emphasize the strengths of each individual. In the end, certain individualists and a good team spirit always make the difference to achieve success.

The U17s and U15s were able to celebrate relegation, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for the U16s this year. How do you deal with such setbacks?

For me, this is clearly not a setback. The U16s played against U17 teams in the regional league and there was only one easy round, with many games already being played in the first half of the season. You could see that our U16s developed strongly in the second half of the season and were able to score points from behind. In the end, almost half the league will be relegated, which for me has little to do with training. Accordingly, as a U16 club, we don’t blame them either. Next year, the team can attack in the upper third of the national league and pursue the goal of being promoted again.

A special feature in recent months was the special game round for the A and B juniors. The DFB launched this project for the first time due to the short round. How did the additional games under competitive conditions go down with the youth?

Personally, I found it questionable that the A and B Junior Bundesliga only played a single round this year. The idea of ​​then carrying out a special game round was basically not a bad one. However, I would have wished for better organization and, above all, shorter game intervals. The supra-regional encounters were a very good start, but especially in the regional games of the preliminary round you only met well-known troops, so everyone was a little fed up. Fortunately, next season there will be a normal round with 26 games in the youth division.

Ralf Becker mentioned it in an interview last week: With Jonas Oehmichen and Paul Lehmann, two homegrown players will be part of the professional squad from the next season. Does the boys’ success make you personally proud?

I’ve been associated with football for around 40 years now and of course stories like this kind of make me proud. But I think it’s more important to name the people who have accompanied the boys over the years. It starts with the coach in the U11s, who ultimately plays just as much a role as the boys’ U16 and U19 coaches, for example. Thanks are due to everyone who accompanied a certain development phase of “Lehmi” and “Oehmi”. But of course it’s not just about the two of them, but also about the other players of the U19 vintage, who have all developed great and will continue to go their own way.

Now is the summer break in all divisions and therefore also time for possible transfers or newcomers. What is the situation in our youth division, are we currently looking for reinforcements?

Of course, it doesn’t work the same way with youngsters as it does in the professional business, in that they specifically look for reinforcements in certain positions. But we’ve always tried to build optimal team structures so that the players can develop in the best possible way. In squads where some positions are critical for a variety of reasons, it is our job to fill them up sensibly. So we’ve come a long way this season, so we don’t have to worry about things getting tight anywhere.

You can usually follow the sporting developments very well, but at the NLZ at Dynamo Dresden, great value is also placed on the boys’ academic developments. Have you noticed a positive development here this year?

Of course, I’m not as well versed in the subject as Lars Nitzsche, our educational director, who is responsible for it. Some finish school with a grade of one or two, others are happy when they pass. This is also normal, because everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. But we attach great importance to the school education of the boys and since I’ve been here, I think every player has also received a school certificate on the stage. We hope that there will be a 100% quota again this year.

What are the goals for the 2023/2024 season in the junior division? Can you name specific things here?

Our current goal is to fully complete the planning for the new season. In addition to the cadres, this also includes the coaching teams. Then the goal is logically to stay up with all teams and, as already mentioned, with the U16s the possible promotion again. If someone from the U19s makes the leap to the first team and signs a professional contract, I would be more than satisfied. I’m also always happy when some of our players receive invitations to the junior national teams during the season. But the most important thing is that you continue to work together in a goal-oriented manner and see the joint success.

Interview: Tessa Rohnke