Pressure on the vessel
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has also badly affected youth football. For the U19 and U17 squads, the restrictions on the brink of professional football represent a bitter setback – and a mental burden...
Thomas Eichin has already sent out the most important message: “Moaning is pointless,” said the director of the Bayer 04 performance centre at Kurtekotten. The coronavirus pandemic and the renewed lockdown also have a massive negative effect on the planning and work of the Bayer 04 youth boss but crucial for the 54-year-old is attitude: remain active, don’t lapse into the role of a victim, don’t bemoan your fate. “We continue to focus on our work and send out the message: ‘Just think positive now.’ We’ll make sure everybody stays healthy and make the best of it,” said Eichin.
The best means: at least maintaining the training sessions in spite of the renewed lockdown for the older U19 and U17 Bundesliga age groups. The leagues have been suspended again since the last weekend in October but whether or not the resumption happens in February remains uncertain due to the volatile situation with the pandemic and the continuing restrictions on contact. The youth Bundesligas had to be suspended last season due to the first lockdown.
But while the the conditions and circumstances relating to the continuation of the Bundesliga were illuminated in the media, there was less attention on how severely youth football was and is affected. For the highly talented players born in 2002 and 2003 in particular, this lockdown, this enforced break, this suspension of fixtures have been a bitter blow in the personal desire to have a professional career.
“It’s extremely difficult for the older year groups,” said Thomas Eichin: “It can’t be argued away. The lads in the final youth year need the stage to present themselves. It’s also a bit of an exhibition year - to show what you can do for your own club as well as for other clubs. It’s a major interruption.” This assessment is also confirmed by sports psychologist Timo Heinze, who has worked for Bayer 04 since January 2020. “It’s obvious that this enforced break is anything but ideal in terms of timing for the older U19 year group in particular,” said the 34-year-old who can look back at a formidable career of his own that saw him becoming a U19 champion of Germany in 2004 with Bayern Munich. Heinze also knows what he’s talking about from his own experience. “I don’t think you should now try and put a gloss on the situation. But, at the same time, it’s about making it clear to the lads that the situation, as difficult as it is, is actually the same for every player in Germany.” According to Heinze, it is easier to deal with the situation with the right approach.
The talent developer Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director for the national teams at the DFB, drew the comparison back in late autumn after the eight months of restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic: “For every player it’s like suffering a torn cruciate.” In terms of a timescale, it is a suitable verdict but Heinze is mindful at the same time: “If you look at when you get an injury then it’s individual. You’re at a disadvantage there as an individual player. You miss something, you can’t develop while others move forwards. That means you lose out.” But the lockdown, as much as it affects the youth players, is an egalitarian subject. “That is positive even though it sounds negative at first: Everybody loses something,” said Heinze. “Everybody is in the same boat. If the lads realise that then they can even turn it to their advantage because they are capable of dealing with situation better than others.”
A question of mind set as they say these days. Also definitely a question of mentality as Thomas Eichin and Timo Heinze would call it. “It’s about acceptance,” said Heinze, who is always available to the youth players in confidence (“There’s nothing better than an open door.”) for discussions and advice. Heinze also has a general piece of advice: “There’s an art to accepting situations and making it clear to yourself what you and what you can’t influence. There’s little sense in expending an incredible amount of energy on something that I can’t control. I’d rather invest 100 hundred per cent of my energy in things under my control.”
This attitude, as with society in general, has been put to a severe test. After the first lockdown, including the break in competitions in the spring of 2020, there was hope in the summer for a sustainable improvement in the situation – the new enforced break hit those involved harder who were not limited to the Bundesliga campaigns. The DFB had already cancelled all seminars and the numerous trials tournaments in the autumn – and already advised they would not be rearranged.
For example, the next U18 trials tournament will be held in October 2021. In turn, FIFA announced over Christmas that the postponed 2020 U20 World Cup would not be played in 2021 either – and the same applies to the U17 World Cup in Peru. Both tournaments were put back to 2023. The top players of the affected year groups thereby lose the possibility of gaining international experience.
Competitions in youth football were suspended. What remains is the daily training sessions for the U19 and U17, which were possible due to a special permit - but rather on an individual basis than as a team as Eichin explained. “We do all we can to keep the players fit and they can carry on being trained individually – in terms of tactics, technique and fitness. We can’t do more.” Bayer 04 organise that under strict adherence to the hygiene regulations that involves changed personnel involvement such as the chauffeur service but also the requirement for individual training – a matter of course for Eichin: “We have to ensure that it continues.”
For the younger teams and year groups where no training is permitted, Bayer 04 provide video conferences: “We give the lads individual training plans so that everybody can do something.” But with all the digital opportunities and efforts, Eichin admits: “We plan every training session so that we – regardless of whether it’s in the younger section or the first team squad – always aim for players to get better with each individual session. It can’t be good if there’s no training. It’s definitely the case that you’re missing something this season.” With the younger ones the training and with the older ones competition – combined with the worry of experiencing a unique disadvantage in that moment where a professional contact could be signed, of being able to find a club, a career perspective after many years of privation. “There we have a duty of care to openly and honestly communicate the next step to the U19 players,” said Eichin, who has no doubt that the top talents will be able to continue on their career paths in spite of the long break: “The absolutely exceptional players have already come to the attention of the coaches, management or scouts from other clubs. The following motto applies here: ‘We know what he can do.’” However, the late developers, those players who only make major progress later on in the youth section, could now slip through due to the lack of competitive opportunities.
The fears of many young players are growing every week of the enforced break and the question of how and when this season will have fixtures again. “Pressure will definitely grow and the vessel start to emit a bit more steam,” said Timo Heinze. At the end of the day, these young people will have to accept a completely different set-up after years of a clear structure: “You work up to the game, want to pick up three points, produce a good performance – all those targets suddenly go by the board, also in your head. That’s the hardest thing.” Heinze’s advice: Develop your own process targets, set your own improvement targets, make yourself a bit more independent – or in footballer language: “Follow the thing through just for itself.”
This story appeared in the Werks11 Magazin edition 29.
