Rewarded for the courage to change
Created: 04/07/2022, 14:11
Safe support: Patrik Heilmair came to the cathedral city via FC Schwaig.
After initial difficulties due to Corona, the Moosburger is currently in the box of the state league.
© Fox
The former Moosburg goalkeeper Patrik Heilmair has established himself at SE Freising
Freising
– Few meet the same fate in football as the men between the posts.
There is often a wanted change among field players, rotation is the industry keyword.
But that doesn't usually apply to the goalkeepers, there's often no getting around the number one in the team for a long time.
It was therefore all the more astonishing when Patrik Heilmair, of all people, joined the state league club SE Freising during the winter break after it was clear that Maximilian Oswald would succeed him.
Even Heilmair himself doesn't want to beat about the famous bush.
According to the 26-year-old, it was "openly discussed" that he would first have to queue at the back.
In the summer, Heilmair switched from TSV Moosburg to FC Schwaig.
It was planned that Heilmair would go to the district league.
But then things happened differently.
Schwaig grabbed the surprising march through and, thanks to the quotient regulation in the year of the demolition, rushed into the state league as second in the table.
Bad luck for Heilmair: With Franz Hornof, the Schwaiger secured a veteran who had proven himself in the national league, the youngster was only left behind.
In the end, it was three games for the reserve man, a situation that Heilmair was not satisfied with and therefore contacted the SEF.
There, those responsible were looking for a backup after regular Patrick Negele had left the yellow-blacks for Baden-Württemberg in the winter.
Luck was not on Heilmair's side.
At the beginning of February, the 26-year-old fell ill with Corona and had to struggle with the aftermath for a long time.
The number one seemed to be taken on sight.
But then came the Freising 1:4 debacle against Bruckmühl, in which Oswald didn't look happy either.
And in the next game in mid-March, Heilmair was surprisingly in the starting line-up against FC Unterföhring of all places.
The change in goal, the 26-year-old reassured, had nothing to do with the win in the preliminary game.
"It was agreed that I would play soon," said Heilmair.
And yet there is a little pride that the newcomer made it into the starting line-up after such a short time.
Heilmair has been making people sit up and take notice ever since, and coach Plabst was happy with him in the four league games that followed.
The goalkeeper has already had to reach behind him five times, three stalls alone can be attributed to the wild Karlsfeld match (3:3).
The Freisingers defended it badly against Eintracht, and otherwise Heilmair was usually the last link in a whole chain of mistakes.
The 26-year-old conceded a penalty against Kirchheim, but then saved the penalty immediately.
"That was", the keeper looks back proudly,
Patrick Heilmair hasn't regretted leaving Moosburg anyway.
Sure, the 26-year-old admits, it was nice to play with the buddies, to be the captain in Neustadt.
But the ambition was greater in the end.
"I wanted to get out of the familiar environment," emphasizes Heilmair.
"And then I didn't want to play in Mauern or Palzing for 15 years either." So the keeper dared to jump two leagues up and since then has been learning something new in every training session and in every league game.
There is a different atmosphere when it comes to competitive games, the stadiums are very different.
"And then you play against people who have experience in the second or third division and you win against them," Heilmair sums up with a grin on his face.
"Then you'll be happy about it all weekend." It's also worth fighting a bit more for the only place between the posts.
