The schedule is tight again. But Max Rinderle is used to combining his job as an assistant trainer at the foxes and that as a teacher trainer at the school and performance center in Berlin in the best possible way. The 35-year-old feels little stress. “It’s a luxury problem when you combine this amount of work with what you love,” says Rinderle. He is currently helping interim coach Bob Hanning as best he can so that the foxes can play against Frisch Auf! without their sick coach Jaron Siewert. Göppingen can start the season successfully on Sunday (4:05 p.m. / Sky).
“He’s demanding. But that’s also good if things are supposed to work. That was no surprise to me. I know what he’s expecting,” says Rinderle about what he considers a “harmonious working relationship” with Hanning, whom he’s known since he was a fox player. At the age of 25, the managing director made him coach of the second team before the former backcourt player was promoted to assistant coach for the 2015/16 season.
However, Rinderle had his first interlude on the Bundesliga touchline in 2014. At that time, coach Dagur Sigurdsson was absent due to illness and Rinderle helped out alongside Alexander Haase at the game in Kiel. “Crazy how long ago that was. That was an outstanding experience,” Rinderle recalls, although the foxes had to admit defeat in the Ostseehalle by 27:38.
A lot has happened since then. Not only have the Berliners been able to establish themselves at the top of the HBL handball league in recent years and have now also clinched their first win in the club’s history with the record champions, a lot has also happened on the Foxes’ bench: Erlingur Richardsson, Velimir Petkovic , Michael Roth and finally Jaron Siewert all had the constant Max Rinderle at their side. “Everyone has and had their own style,” says the assistant coach, whose tasks have varied in breadth and intensity in the past, depending on the coach.
On the one hand it was more the video study that he was involved in, on the other the interaction with the daily training events. “But it’s not as if the game of handball would change as such,” says Rinderle. What’s most important to him is that he has the feeling that the coaches trust him, that they value his opinion. And that they know he is loyal to them. “And that was the case,” confirms the native of Baden-Württemberg, who has now settled in Berlin.
Of course, over the years he has also developed himself. Rinderle has long known what can happen in a game and what contingencies need to be considered. He became a confident leader and, with his background in Berlin and his attitude towards sport, fits perfectly into the Foxes’ philosophy. Just like his current counterpart Jaron Siewert. “We speak the same language in many things,” says Rinderle, who has a friendly relationship with the head coach.
And when it comes to handball, the two understand each other anyway: “Of course it’s important that an assistant coach can adapt to his coach and doesn’t have a completely different view. But when Jaron came, he brought things that quickly made sense to me,” says Rinderle. For example, new approaches in defense strategy or more speed and flexibility in attacking play. “You can see his handwriting and how he wants to play handball,” says Rinderle.
But now the foxes have to do without their trainer for the time being. “We are all with Jaron and hope that he will be fit again as soon as possible,” says Rinderle. At the start in their own hall, two points are of course the goal even without a boss, after all the foxes are considered by quite a few experts to be one of the favorites for the title this season. “You can see that we have a certain continuity this year and that we have taken a step forward in terms of play,” says Max Rinderle. He knows that not only he, but also the team invested a lot of time and energy – and that everyone wants to be rewarded for their work in preparation.
