Franz Bittel's goal: Oberliga with Erdinger talents

The 38-year-old wants to become the head of the gladiators.

Youth work is particularly close to his heart.

Erding - The ice hockey department of TSV Erding gets a new leadership.

When, however, is still in the stars, because due to the corona pandemic, face-to-face meetings are not allowed for the foreseeable future.

The current department management has now - as allowed by the statutes - accepted a team around Michael Westphal and Christian Fragner as assessors and has already given them the appropriate powers (we reported).

But there is a second group that has announced that it will run for election.

It is led by Franz Bittel.

The 38-year-old Erdinger works in the commercial area of ​​the construction industry.

Mr. Bittel, how annoyed were you that the head of department gave preference to the Westphal Group?

I see it as a fair sport.

This path is legitimate, but ultimately the members decide.

However, I would have preferred a cooperative path.

In the end we all have the same goal.

We are not better or worse, we just take a different path.

You used to be an active ice chopper yourself.

In my youth I was allowed to go through all of the club's youth teams and am therefore still closely associated with the club today.

What, besides your sporting past, qualifies you to lead the ice hockey department at TSV Erding?

Through my work in the management of a large retail company over the past few years, I see myself as more than equipped for business, sporting and human tasks.

Due to the technical competence in the sporting and organizational area of ​​my team, I have also dedicated myself to the economic part and business matters.

Tell us about your team.

Who is in it?

Our team consists of a broad-based team.

These specialists from the sporting, organizational and junior sectors have been active in various areas in the club for years and are firmly integrated in the club.

Therefore, in order to protect these people within the association with regard to their current association activities, I would like to keep a low profile until the general meeting.

Do you want to hold on to the full-time junior coach?

And is Stefan Teufel one or the candidate?

Retaining a full-time young talent is very important.

There are several reasons for this.

The current full-time junior trainer Stefan Teufel has formed and trained a complete junior trainer team over the past few years.

He also enjoys a high degree of recognition and sympathy from parents - and especially from children and young people.

Even his 25 years of activity at the Bavarian Ice Sports Association, both in promoting talent and in coaching education, gives Stefan Teufel a high level of acceptance and loyalty within his coaching team.

This situation is a rarity and offers the best prerequisites for continuing a conceptual grassroots and competitive young talent concept in order to build on old successes among the youngsters.

What is your overall concept for young talent?

The strong junior foundation is a major component in the holistic concept and must ultimately lead to the Erding Gladiators senior team.

This creates a perspective for the young talents at an early stage in order to counteract the problem of the emigration of well-trained young players.

As can now also be seen in the top leagues, the young talents must be introduced to the senior sector at an early stage.

The basic requirement for this would be that our U 17 and U 20, who are currently playing in the top Bavarian leagues, are allowed to start in DEB games in the medium term.

Due to the new DEB guidelines, a pure sporting promotion in the junior leagues in the U 17 / U 20 area is actually no longer possible.

For advancement, a certain structure and various other requirements in the club are also required.

These are determined with certification via the DEB's five-star program.

Speaking of senior citizens.

What are your goals with the Gladiators?

In the medium term, the goal is top league.

In order to be able to utilize the DEB's financial support, our senior team would also have to take part in DEB games, i.e. in the major league.

Then we would also have the opportunity to park in Erding players who have not yet made the leap into the top rows of the senior team there with neighboring, higher-class clubs such as Landshut or Munich via the funding license regulation.

This holistic conception and structure will inevitably be necessary, since with the new ice hockey training location Munich there will be a very high risk that many young Erdinger players could switch there if there is no performance concept.

With the additional perspective of the Oberliga, the Erding location will not only be attractive for our young talents.

Doesn't this mean that the local players will be deprived of their places in the top squad?

Absolutely not.

This increases the standard of performance and the strength of the Erding Gladiators.

In addition, this also promotes the attractiveness of the team among the spectators and fans.

As I have already mentioned, our idea in the offspring is popular and competitive sport, which means that every child, whether outstanding or not so talented, can play with us.

The core principle is: Every child in Erding should have the opportunity to become a gladiator.

Can you tell us any other building blocks of your concept?

That would be going too far here now.

But we will create the opportunity for all members, fans, parents and interested parties to obtain information about our concept and have set up the Internet platform www.eishockey-zukunft-erding.de, which will go online soon.

Everyone can get information here and judge it for themselves.

Another topic is public relations, which has been criticized by many fans in recent years.

What can we expect from you?

New media, public image, sponsors - that is absolutely important, and here too we have many new ideas and plans in our concept, but these are not our top priority.

The focus is clearly on ice hockey.

Nevertheless, communication platforms such as the homepage, social media channels and so on must be revised accordingly and changed in line with the times in order to enable fast, intensive communication with fans.

The subject of live streaming is also part of our concept.

Here, too, we want to take a modern, contemporary approach.

A popular organization for attracting members and funds is a development association.

Have you already given that thought?

Naturally.

A sponsorship association has also already been founded, which acts exclusively for the benefit of the young.

More information will soon be available on the Internet at www.fördervereineishockeynachwuchs-erding.de.

In one sentence, what is your team's long-term goal?

We want the Erdinger to see more of their own in the first in the ice rink at home and celebrate successes with them, as it used to be.

The interview was conducted by Wolfgang Krzizok