Anton Brehme brought two cakes to the Horst-Korber-Sportzentrum on Wednesday. A cheesecake and a chocolate cake that his mom and his best friend baked for him. However, the birthday child did not allow himself a piece, but left the fragrant pastries to his team. “I’m on a bit of a diet,” said the middle blocker, who turned 23 on Wednesday, laughing, “especially after the long break.”

Brehme was not seen on the field for almost a year and a half because he kept struggling with knee problems and had to undergo surgery. The rehab lasted several months and Brehme found it difficult to keep his feet still and to take the training slowly.

Nevertheless, reason prevailed in the end, so that he even gave up the time with the national team this summer to concentrate fully on his recovery. With success: “I played with pain for a long time, but finally I feel like I’ve fought it. I look forward to every difficult technique because it’s so much fun to be back on the ball.”

This was also clearly noticeable during the first training session. Right at the start, when assistant coach Lucio Oro let his team play a round of football, he fought some wild duels with colleague Timothée Carle, enthusiastically high-fived newcomer Johannes Tille and generally created a good atmosphere.

In this respect, it was not surprising that the sporting activity was particularly obvious, which could also be due to the new light gray shirts.

Brehme is currently the tallest volley player at 2.06 metres, but that will soon change when Saso Stalekar (2.14 metres), who is just preparing for the World Cup with the Slovenian national team, joins them, as is Ruben Schott and Cody Kessel, both of whom have World Cup ticket prospects with the German and US teams respectively.

Coach Cédric Énard, who is with Croatia at the European Championship qualification, is still missing.

As long as he is represented by Oro, who probably copied some training methods at the Olympic Stadium last year and chased his team through the hall with medicine balls. “It’s always exciting to watch the new players and their techniques. The first impression is very positive.”

He is particularly looking forward to brushing up on his Spanish with new signing Ángel Trinidad and having a Brazilian on the team again in Matheus Krauchuk.

But there were also a few familiar faces, such as Marek Sotola, who apparently lifted the medicine ball without any problems and then threw it powerfully into the corner of the hall. Because he “had a full summer of volleyball” with the Czech national team and even won the European Golden League, he only had a few days off.

He spent it with his parents and sister in Sanssouci and Tropical Island, among other places. His family will probably visit him more often in the coming years, because he recently extended his contract by three years until 2025. “I’m happy that I can stay here. It’s so great here,” he said, beaming.

After the departure of Benjamin Patch, he should play a major role in attack next season. But there is still some time before the start to recover from the hardships of the summer – for example with pizza that Brehme ordered to celebrate the day. And even he enjoyed a piece of it himself.