WIf only there wasn’t this one big blemish – wait, that’s only meant as a joke. When you see how the handball world bows to Andy Schmid, it becomes clear that this “blemish” cannot possibly have anything to do with the personality or style of play of the 38-year-old director. The stain on his fairly clean slate refers to his origins, his national jersey. And that is, unfortunately, red. And not white.
How gladly the national coaches would have used an Andy Schmid in recent years! But they weren’t allowed to. Because Schmid comes from Horgen, learned to catch and throw in Lucerne. So he couldn’t help the German Handball Federation (DHB) as a world-renowned playmaker – but he could often rest in January when the big tournaments take place, but the Swiss are rarely there.
In fact, this frequent rest period in the Bundesliga hamster wheel was one of the reasons why he rarely got injured. Even if it was difficult for the ambitious professional to have to watch most of the time when the European and World Championships were awarded.
an instance
Now Andy Schmid’s time in the yellow jersey of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen on Sunday (3.30 p.m. on MagentaSport and Sky) after the game at the German champions in Magdeburg is over. He draws a line under his twelve years with the lions; he leaves as one of the best middlemen of that time, and the fact that you can’t name him in the same breath as Stefan Lövgren, Nikola Karabatic and Mikkel Hansen is only because there is nothing to win with Switzerland as a handball player at the highest level. And a little bit because he didn’t turn out to be a really good defender, which he freely admits.
On Thursday, 11,000 fans celebrated him in the Mannheim Arena after the 26:33 against THW Kiel; the people of Kiel let the game be for the last 30 seconds and applauded the crying Schmid. After winning the championship in 2016 and 2017 and winning the cup in 2018, he has achieved legendary status with the lions. Together with coach Nikolaj Jacobsen, he led the rich south-west Germans to the top of the establishment.
Even more: He helped them to the image as a top club. Experts voted him the most important player of the season five times. Schmid had long since developed into an authority with whom one could speak about all topics related to this sport. During the pandemic, he thought almost too much about how his sport could continue. And a detour to the current state of society was always worthwhile in conversations with him.
Back to Switzerland
Penalties, passes to the circle, shots – Schmid was always the playmaker with the most goals. He kept an overview, assessed the consequences of his actions at lightning speed, made decisions. In the end, also to stop with the lions. There was a bit of tugging about the length of the contract as a professional, about how to bind him, but the past two seasons in particular have shown Schmid that success is fleeting – the Löwen management lined up mistake after mistake from 2019.
The crash followed immediately. Schmid almost despaired. And expressed his dissatisfaction publicly, several times. He, the full professional, lacked the professional focus at his heart club. In this respect, it is only logical that Andy Schmid is now leaving the Löwen and moving to Lucerne with his Norwegian wife and two sons. A bit of handball, then the start of his career as a coach: you will definitely see him again as coach of a Bundesliga club.
Mental trainer Svan
What connects him with the other prominent departure these days is the fact that even protagonists of the fiercest competition speak of them with respect. It was also noticeable what caliber the Bundesliga is now losing.
Lasse Svan, also 38, does not see his future on the coaching bench. The Danish right winger from SG Flensburg-Handewitt completed his training as a mental coach eight years ago. He has clients from ice hockey, soccer, handball, badminton and also outside of the sports scene. As a young professional, Svan himself had noticed how badly missed shots weighed on him. So he turned to a mental coach himself and now has a suitcase full of tools to help himself out of crises during the game.
After 14 years in the Flensburg jersey, Svan said “farvel” on Wednesday after SG’s 21:24 against Bergisch HC. He goes as a player from the illustrious circle of players who have witnessed all five coronations of world handball: Olympic victory, world and European championships, Champions League, German championship. The others are Daniel Narcisse, Nikola Karabatic, Thierry Omeyer and Niklas Landin, his good friend and roommate in the national team.
With Lasse Svan you always had the feeling that handball is above all a game and that defeat is not a tragedy. Calm, thoughtful, mischievous – it remains to be seen whether Svan was the right captain of an already rather quiet team. He is highly respected as the representative of SG in Denmark, and it is also thanks to him that Flensburg continues to attract many young Danish professionals.
Similar to Schmid, Svan leaves his club after a weak season. fourth place. He said few words about it. With his wife and two children he will move into a house near Kolding, where Anders Eggert is his neighbor, the former Flensburg left winger. A good mood should then be guaranteed – and the joy that the long days in the bus on the way to away games are finally over.
