A year ago, Sebastian Seidl spoke of a “historic day” when the German judo mixed team won gold at the U23 European Championships and he was right in the middle of it as the newly crowned national coach. Now it was that time again: This time the German judoka led by Coach Seidl fought for the coveted medals in Pila, Poland – and once again made it onto the podium in the mixed team competition.
“It was a cool competition again and it was fun to work together with the boys and girls,” says the 34-year-old Pförringer, who has been officially employed as an assistant men’s national coach at the German Judo Federation (DJB) since March 1st of this year.
Room for improvement in singles
However, Seidl was not completely satisfied with the results of his protégés. “Unfortunately, individual competitions were not as successful as we had hoped – and unfortunately a bit worse than last year.” The only two medals in the individual were for Samira Bock (silver) and Daniel Udsilauri (bronze). “But as is always the case with the German team – we have always been strong together, and we proved that again with bronze this time. We are very happy with that and we can show ourselves that way,” says Seidl, who won bronze with the German mixed team at the Olympic Games in Tokyo during his playing days. Kevin Abeltshauser was also part of the U23 team. The 22-year-old from German record champions TSV Abensberg put up with his early exit in the singles well and contributed the third point for the German mixed team in the fight for third place against Israel to a 4-1 victory and the bronze medal.
Seidl is completely satisfied with the dual role
Overall, Pförringer Seidl feels very comfortable in his – so far rather atypical – dual role as a coach at the DJB and as an instructor at the top sports support group of the Bavarian police. “What was initially an attempt has now become firmly established. I am accepted on both sides and I enjoy working with the young athletes in both areas, traveling around with them and leading them to success,” says Seidl, who is convinced that such a model with partially funded positions The future of competitive sports in Germany can be.
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