Isabel Fernandez and Hanna Ballhaus, trainers of USC Freiburg, are leaving the women’s basketball Bundesliga team.
With the premature elimination in the playoffs, not only the season ends for the Bundesliga basketball players at USC Freiburg, but also an era: The coaching duo of Isabel Fernandez and Hanna Ballhaus ends after two or three years – despite great sympathy, they part ways . What’s behind it?
When Hanna Ballhaus talks about her departure from USC Freiburg, it sounds as changeable as the weather in a rainy and sun-drenched April. This is not meant to be disrespectful. The 39-year-old trainer of the kingfishers has the gift of expressing ambivalent feelings in an eloquent way. And yet you can hear her that she is still processing her departure from Freiburg late on Wednesday afternoon.
“In the end we were disillusioned with German women’s basketball,” says Ballhaus, who always speaks in a we-form when it comes to her time in Freiburg. Three years ago she moved from the Spanish second division to Freiburg. One season later, her partner, Isabel Fernandez, moved to the Breisgau.
Since then they have steered the fate of the kingfishers together, had two decent seasons and, above all, set accents in youth work. As the youngest team in the league, the Freiburg women made it into the playoffs this season. A week ago it was over in the quarter-finals against Herne. The table seventh Freiburg was hardly up to the table runner-up in the main round. In both games against last year’s champions, the kingfishers had no chance. Nevertheless, says Harald Janson, the sporting director: “Given the circumstances of the pandemic, I rate the season as positive.” No positive Corona case throughout the season, hardly any long-term injuries, big leaps in development among the young players: “In a season like this, you have to emphasize these positive things, negative things are discussed enough anyway,” says Janson.
Quickly made it to the top division
The big trump card of the kingfishers was that they found themselves quickly this season. In the first season with only three professionals – instead of the usual four – the young players in particular came up trumps. Under the basket, the Americans Cassidy Boensch and Emilly Kapitza caused rebounds. Former youth national player Pauline Mayer made the biggest leap in the build-up position. League top scorer Daneesha Provo often contributed the necessary accuracy, although the performance curve of the three-man specialist from Canada went down before the playoffs. Maria Konstantinidou, who was only 17 years old from Ludwigsburg before the season, also drew attention to the inside positions.
But back to the disillusionment and the ambivalent farewell feelings among the departing coaching duo: “The pandemic has shown the structural deficits of German women’s basketball. Here the visions, the development, the prospects are missing. In the end, we were a little out of breath . ” Ultimately, the frustration of the kingfishers coaching duo over the structural-administrative area of the league was so great that even the great sympathy for the club could not persuade them to stay. “As trite as it sounds, we part on absolutely good terms,” says Ballhaus of her departure, “we have always felt very comfortable here with the kingfishers and are happy to have achieved so much here.”
“It was already noticed in January that the signs were pointing to farewell,” admits sporting director Janson, who praised the good work of his coaches: “We are sad and grateful that we part.”
Now it’s back to Spain
How it will go on for the two trainers is still open. They would like to work in a duo again. What is certain is that they want to do this in Spain. For the time being, she is drawn to León, where Ballhaus and Fernandez once met and still own an apartment.
For Harald Janson, however, the search for a successor solution has begun. In general, the sporting director of the kingfishers has a lot to do at the moment. Sponsor talks, contract extensions, newcomers – all of this needs to be clarified so that the 21st Bundesliga season of the Freiburg women can be secured in autumn. They cannot report anything tangible yet. But Janson is certain: “We will find the right people for our team again this year.” The new beginning after saying goodbye: It has already begun for the kingfishers.
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