Personal trainer Markus Friedrich leaves everything behind for FC Eitting.
Eitting - After the final whistle, Michael Stiller stood in front of him and said: "You would have preferred to stay at home." Eight years ago, such a sentence at the end of a game would have been a problem for Markus Friedrich.
At that time Stiller was still his coach at FC Eitting - now he's at TSV Allershausen.
And Friedrich has long since retired from goalkeeping - unless his old specialist Markus Weber calls again.
BY DIETER PRIGLMEIR
So it was again last week.
Christoph Kressierer injured, Florian Ganslmeier prevented privately - in Eitting there was a goalkeeping emergency.
So Weber picked up the cell phone: "Friedl, how is it looking?"
Actually, the 34-year-old has little time for football. He is a freelance personal trainer - and doing well there. “Problem solver” is how he sees his job. He looks after top athletes as well as people who are tweaked somewhere. Stefan Lex, the Eittingen professional footballer - at that time still a Bundesliga player in Ingolstadt - was already with him. Golfers swear by Friedrich's program against the so-called Yips, those involuntary muscle twitching during putting, which he developed together with a doctor. In short: it works. The next step would be solid partnerships with competitive athletes or even clubs. "It's really difficult to get in there, but we're working on it," says Friedrich.
There is no time at all for football. Actually. But last year he got weak for the first time. “Funnily enough, TSV Allershausen was also involved back then,” says Friedrich. Eitting's regular keeper saw the red card against TSV. A week later Friedrich was in the league cup against TSV Wartenberg in the box. And then did he hold up like a young god? “No way,” says Friedrich with a laugh. “That was nothing at all. I thought I could do it all, but unfortunately it wasn't like that. You could already see that I lacked regular training. ”The game ended 3: 3. Whether there were goalkeeping mistakes - we are silent now.
Last Saturday things went much better. Eitting won 2-0 - emphasis on “to zero”. The perfectionist himself said: “That worked relatively well.” This time he played it safe. “If we could, we calmly built up from behind. But when in doubt, I just hit the ball from behind. There is not much experimentation. ”He delivered a flawless game.
It wasn't a big surprise for player-coach Markus Weber: “He was already playing in the district league back then. So the talent is there, and his job means he's always fit. ”Even if he doesn't have any special soccer training, the coach can rely on him. "The technology is of course not as available as it was back then, but in combination with a great defense he can catch in the district league at any time," says Weber and adds: "For us, it is worth gold to have such a keeper in our emergency baggage. He's just a great character, too. "
Friedrich himself also finds it very practical that his passport is in Eitting.
He already played together with Maxi Gröppmair, Felix Zehetmeier and Frede Neudecker in 2013/14.
“The team has of course already changed, but otherwise nothing has changed in Eitting,” he says and raves about the district league times and the “beautiful Eittinger Festln”, which ended quite late at the club's host.
"Once I fell asleep there after an away game," remembers Friedrich with a grin.
How strong is the FCE this year?
“I don't know the other teams, and it was a tight number against Allershausen,” says Friedrich.
"Now comes a phrase: But if the people of Eittingen stick together, then they can already play at the top in the district league."
In the Sunday game against Taufkirchen he will not be in goal.
“I'm with my girlfriend in Simbach,” he says.
Weber is confident that Kressierer is back on board (see league check).
If not, there might be a call after all.
More information about Markus Friedrich's training program at www.friedrich-training.de
