Uli Sigl has shaped handball at TSV Herrsching for 22 years and achieved a lot during this time. He soon resigns as head of department, his successor is still secret.
Herrsching - Uli Sigl would have preferred to have had June 28 just come. With all the experience he has gained over the past 22 years as head of the Herrschinger Handball team, he would also have completed his eleventh annual meeting with board elections. But somehow he couldn't keep his long-planned resignation secret after all this time. As soon as the corona pandemic allows it and people in Bavaria can freely gather again, the 53-year-old will resign from the TSV.
"It is time for a fresh wind to come in," says Sigl. "Some things were a bit trite." This statement may surprise many. Sigl shaped an era for the handball players from Lake Ammer.
This term may not suit him, for he always girded himself with modesty and always retreated. As a matter of course, Sigl speaks of the collective that heads the division: "We are not a one-man show, but ten men on the board."
Uli Sigl made the handball department the figurehead
It is far from him to catch compliments for his pleasant reluctance. The Herrschinger community council member (SPD) characterized himself as a rather quiet and inconspicuous representative of his guild. "I was never the ramp sow," he says. Sigl never wanted to be a loudspeaker either. As a player, he stood up for tough Maloche defenses.
He retained this worker mentality when he took over the post of youth leader and then the leadership among handball players. Perhaps Sigl was never a visionary, but with his sense of the essential and necessary, he made handball players the figurehead among the TSV departments. When he took up his post, his division had 300 members, today there are 550.
The name TSV Herrsching is known at least throughout Bavaria
While the number of handball players has almost doubled, their budget has quintupled in the past two decades and is now around 130,000 euros. The name TSV Herrsching is not only a household name for the Bavarian Handball Association with three Bayernliga and three Landesliga teams. Sigl also led the club to national sports regions.
The so-called winter fairy tale, which ended in winning the 2007 World Cup in Germany, originated in Herrsching, where national coach Heiner Brand welded his winning team together. Even an international match against Egypt - albeit to the exclusion of the public - was then held in the Nikolaushalle.
The women's national team and the B youth team have been guests as well as Bundesliga handball teams in recent years. The so-called BIG-Cup, which was supposed to provide the clubs with practice during the Olympic break in 2000, underwent several further editions in the following years.
Many insights and new friendships
"It was interesting to get insights at this level," says Sigl, who does not want to miss this time in which solid friendships developed, such as with the former international, coach and official Martin Schwalb.
The Herrschingen always knew what they had in Sigl. He never had to face a challenger in elections. "I was always the only candidate," says the head of department. He was also astonished that he held out for almost as long as his three predecessors Sepp Siglstetter, Hans Wannenmacher (each ten years) and Christoph Otter (three years) together. However, Sigl has no interest in this comparison: "Perhaps too much is associated with my name."
Uli Hoeneß from Ammersee stops - successor still secret
The middle school teacher packs his things at a time when he thinks he is finished with his Latin. In addition to a certain tiredness in office ("I certainly did a lot more 15 years ago than I do now"), he also complains of a mental standstill that spread over the department during his long term in office. "We need fresh blood," says the man of all times, who always stood for new ideas and fresh daring. It is not for nothing that he is called the Uli Hoeneß from the Ammersee.
Just like the great former president of FC Bayern Munich, Sigl does not resign without having previously ordered his field. He announced his resignation in his last election two years ago. Since he was never a man of big words, but they always had enormous weight with him, the division knew that he was serious. The association used the time to find a successor whose name is still confidential.
Creeping transition at TSV Herrsching
"I make sure that everything continues to run competently," says Sigl. He speaks of a "creeping transition", in which his successor should be slowly incorporated into the office, while he releases himself piece by piece in order to have more time for himself again.
The corona crisis alone, the consequences of which can become an immense challenge for TSV, suggests this gentle form, which he chose for himself and his division. "It's not easy to let go of that," Sigl admits. It is obviously difficult for him to say goodbye.
This applies both to the 53-year-old himself and to his department. The handball players of TSV Herrsching without Uli Sigl as chairman - you still have to get used to this idea.
hh