TC Weilheim ahead of a record season: more teams than ever before in game operations
Created: 05/02/2022, 20:00
By: Paul Hopp
In the "Südliga 1" the derby against Penzberg awaits: Vincent Schneider from the men's team at TC Weilheim.
Club coach relies on youth © Halmel
The tennis club (TC) Weilheim has registered more teams than ever before for the summer season that is about to start.
This creates special challenges on the system.
Weilheim – The Weilheim tennis club is entering new dimensions.
The club has registered 31 teams for the upcoming “summer season”, which officially begins on May 6th and lasts until July 16th.
"We've never had so many teams," says sports director Reinhold Moser.
For comparison: TC Penzberg has 16 teams this year, TC Schongau 14 teams.
Organizing all of this is going to be “exciting,” said Moser at a press conference.
Sufficient seats must be available on match days.
TC Weilheim currently has nine outdoor courts and three playing areas in the hall, which was inaugurated in December 2016.
But already at the start of the season things are getting tight, as a listing by youth director Wolfgang Sonn shows.
On Friday, May 6, at 4 p.m., three Weilheimer teams from the boys 15 are in action at the same time – the opponents are FC Seeshaupt, TC Penzberg II and MTV Dießen.
"That means six places have already been lost," said Sonn.
TC Weilheim: Little enthusiasm about BTV structural reform
Unlike before, the youngsters can no longer play during the week, but must play on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
This is a result of a major structural reform in the Bavarian Tennis Association.
According to it, there are no longer individual districts in the Free State, but only the regions "South" (Swabia, Upper Bavaria-Munich, Lower Bavaria) and "North" (Lower Franconia, Upper Franconia, Middle Franconia and Upper Palatinate).
What becomes clear at the press conference in the TC clubhouse: The enthusiasm about the reorganization is limited.
Aside from the planning challenge, the people from Weilheim consider themselves lucky to have so many teams at their disposal.
Because that also means that the club, which has 521 members, does a lot of things right.
Eight teams play in the BTV area, i.e. in national leagues.
The men 75 around Hans Trapp, Horst Becker and Günter Wilberg compete in the regional league south/east;
it doesn't get any higher in this age group.
In the Bayernliga, the women play 60, the men 70 and the men 55. Last season, the latter team achieved a remarkable result as a promoted team in the Bayernliga with fourth place (8:4 points).
In the coming season, the men 55 will only play in teams of five.
Team spokesman Oliver Richter expressed his disappointment: "We were clearly in favor of teams of six.
Men 75 play in the regional league south/east
A drop of bitterness: The men’s 40 team – still in the Bayernliga in 2021 – had to be canceled for this year.
"It hurt," says Moser.
Top player Christian Fuchs has switched to the regional league club TC Pliening (Ebersberg district) and is now number one there.
A small consolation for Weilheim: Several players can now compete for the 50 men because they are old enough.
In view of the cast, Richter believes they can do a lot in the newly named "Landesliga 1": "They are playing for promotion," he is convinced.
The Weilheimer men 60, women 40 and men 75 compete in the "Landesliga 2".
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As far as the men’s team is concerned – often the flagship for clubs – the Weilheimers are in the top division of the southern region at the start.
In the "South League 1" (there are six levels) they have in their group, among others, the district rivals TC Penzberg, TC Herrsching, TSV Neubiberg and TSV Gilching.
"An interesting league," says sports director Moser.
The men's team has a derby against Penzberg in the Südliga
The Weilheimers have stopped using “legionnaires” (i.e. paid guest players) for the men’s team.
Club coach Jordan Wenninger also allows young people to play in the men's team.
One of these talents is Rafael Briegel (born 2008), who had a 9-2 record in the district league last year.
The Südliga 1 is a league in which the concept of trusting in players from your own club still works.
However, if the Weilheimer are promoted to the "Landesliga 2", "you don't have the slightest chance," Moser is convinced.
Twelve of the 31 registered teams belong to the junior division.
In recent years there has been a tremendous increase in membership among children and young people.
"We used to be down to 35 children, now we have about 160," calculates Jugendwart Sonn.
The upswing "is due to the coaching team," emphasizes Sonn.
Wenninger and his colleagues are committed: "They like to teach, but they also like to play themselves." The joy is passed on to the children.
The hall is a plus point for the club.
Training is therefore guaranteed even in bad weather.
According to Richter, the occupancy rate at core times is 90 percent.
The facility will be overcrowded when, from May 14th, all leagues will be played.
Therefore, the TC is planning two more free places.
The building committee gave the green light for this in January of this year.