First Christmas as a family man: two player-coaches in a completely new role

Created: 12/24/2021, 6:00 AM

From: Christian Heinrich

Johannes Franz, player-coach at the district league club SV Raisting.

© Roland Halmel

Football is important, but not everything in life.

The player-coaches Johannes Franz (Raisting) and Christoph Schmitt (Altenstadt) are celebrating Christmas in a completely new role this year.

County - This Christmas will be different than any other before. Johannes Franz and his partner Sarah Obermeier visit their relatives again, like every year, to give each other rich presents. In their own room, however, the SV Raisting coach and his partner can expect a serious change that will shape their lives in the years to come and sometimes turn them upside down. "We are no longer alone," said Franz, looking forward to a Christmas for three.

Almost a year ago, on January 3, 2021, their daughter Milena was born.

Since then, the football teacher's everyday life has had a different sound.

"It is incredibly nice that something is growing up there", the 26-year-old father is enthusiastic about the third force in the house, who is already making itself heard with the adults with a sympathetic but also certain way.

If you call Franz to go through questions about his team, you can usually hear a subtle babbling in the background, just like the motto: Hey guys, I'm still there.

Why is nobody asking me?

And besides: I know better anyway.

"Something will definitely happen to you."

Johannes Franz

It will certainly not be long before Milena will not only operate the remote control, the telephone and the cell phone, which already exert a magical attraction on her, with all necessary skill, but will also take over Dad's press work. It works something like this: The coach has no time. Who plays? Well, anyway, it doesn't work at all at the moment. First he has to train properly again. He's only out on the weekend. All lazy excuses. The opponent? I don't know, we'll beat that anyway.

Also a little north-west of Peißenberg, in Kinsau, a young citizen speaks out.

"Now she has woken up," announces Christoph Schmitt in a tone that somewhere betrays joy, but also a certain sigh.

On August 25, the trainer of TSV Altenstadt and his wife Nicole became parents of a daughter.

The little girl is called Madita, after a character in a fictional novel by Astrid Lindgren.

She will be four months old at Christmas.

There is still little sign of the big party in the Schmitt's apartment.

It is not decorated until shortly before Christmas Eve.

But the lights that are already twinkling in the rooms fascinate the little one immensely.

"They're interested in the glittery stuff," their father has already found out.

Christoph Schmitt, player-coach at the regional division TSV Altenstadt.

© Roland Halmel

Since Madita's birth, Schmitt has learned to see life with different eyes, or let's say from the perspective of his daughter. Every day brought something new with it, the familiar was given a fresh coat of paint and thus its real charm. "A lot has changed in life," notes Schmitt. “It is more based on her.” Up until now, the 32-year-old civil engineer had his job, his wife and football. Since this summer a fourth factor has been added, which forced the trainer to rearrange his world. “You have to be more structured than before. Better time management is needed, ”he realized that he had to plan everything meticulously so that his everyday life went off without major complications.

At least Madita lets her father sleep through the night.

“The nights are great,” he says.

Probably also because his wife takes on the late shifts.

But that seems to be quite normal among footballers.

“I don't really notice anything,” reveals Johannes Franz. When he comes home from training, Milena is already asleep.

And then the father is slumbering so deeply that even a jet fighter could thunder over his bed without hearing him.

And in the morning he leaves the house well rested to ensure quality assurance in his medical technology company.

Good for those who have an understanding wife.

“A lot has changed in life.

It is more geared towards her. "

Christoph Schmitt

The father may sleep the sleep of the righteous, but his life as a trainer is no longer as perfect as it was before. His visits to foreign soccer fields have become rarer. The time to watch the opponents carefully is no longer so abundant. And in Raisting he doesn't just talk about tactics after training. His assistant Maximilian Stöckl had two children in the past two years. His player Florian Greinwald was also able to experience fatherly joys. “You exchange ideas on the side,” admits Franz. “But it doesn't go into the details.” The technical discussions tend to be held by the mothers with one another.

It's no different in Altenstadt. There, too, the rattle stork has struck several times in the past few months. Schmitt's assistant coach Florian Lehmann was also able to look forward to offspring. There are also a few players in the reserve who have become fathers. "I often talk to them about it," reports Schmitt, saying that exchanging ideas about your own offspring has become an integral part of the training. There is also a lot to talk about for the young fathers. Although Schmitt and Franz are the quieter representatives of their guild, who otherwise rarely felt the urge to ride out on the prairie at the weekend, they now have to take responsibility for someone who is completely dependent on their protection and help. “Something will definitely happen to you,” Franz observed himself.Since Milena's birth it has been even easier for him to separate the essential from the inessential and to distinguish the insignificant from the truly significant. "When I see that Milena is happy about very small things, you can tell that the big picture is not needed," he says of a soothing and exhilarating modesty that has moved into his four walls.

But he wouldn’t keep his fingers and feet from kicking because of his child. The little daughter has become indispensable in the district league games of SV Raisting. "So far, it was a guarantee for points," explains the father proudly. With the support of the little fan, the dad and his boys themselves beat BCF Wolfratshausen 3-0 on their place. Milena's winning streak only broke with the home defeat against FC Penzberg. But the Raistingers were no longer so well positioned.

She can come back in the second half of the season just like Madita, who also acts as a lucky charm for her dad and his kicker. “We always won the first games with her,” recalls Schmitt. Even if it wasn't always enough to get a threesome later, the child had an incredibly stimulating effect on the regional league team. “Your balance sheet is positive when you are there,” the trainer analyzes soberly, as if he were keeping statistics. "She can continue to watch."

At Christmas he and his wife Nicole will watch her first. It is the festival of love and children. Finally, the world remembers that God came to earth in a child in Bethlehem to redeem humanity. Since this turning point, people have been giving each other presents at Christmas. However, Melina and Madita still have to be patient until they too are actively drawn into the customs.

Research by the local newspaper at Christkind revealed that a bicycle trailer will increase Madita's fleet at Christmas. And this year at Franz, the content is less important and the packaging is more important. "She will be very interested in the wrapping paper," says Melina's father, finding it easy to guess what her current preferences are. His first Christmas Eve with child will therefore be more of a promise, as with his colleague Christoph Schmitt. “I think we will still have good years,” he says, looking forward to the future together.

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