11.08.2009, 04:48
Andersson becomes a lion

Löwen were active during the summer break. Thorsten Storm talks about the new team

Andersson becomes a lion

Big news came from Rhein Neckar Löwen: the German club signed Swedish Kent-Harry Andersson as new assistant coach. The Löwen will be led by a Swedish couple as Ola Lindgren was nominated new head coach earlier.

Kent-Harry Andersson was fired from SG Flensburg-Handewitt in January after six very successful years winning a German title and other trophies. He reached the Champions League finals in 2004 and 2007. Andersson and Lindgren know each other very well, as Lindgren was his player in Nordhorn for a couple of years.

“I'm happy to work for the Löwen,” Andersson said. “It’s a great challenge as the club made a step forward and Löwen will take the next step with a great team.”

Lindgren is impressed of his new assistant: “He has a lot of competence. As I work as the Swedish national coach, too, it’s good to have such an experienced back-up.”

Löwen manager Thorsten Storm worked together with him in Flensburg four years long.

“His experience will help us a lot”, Storm said, “he is the best coach you could get as an assistant coach. In addition, Andersson will help us develop our youth sector.”

Storm has big expectations

The manager of “Löwen“, Thorsten Storm, has recently talked about the new team in detail. Here is the interview he gave on the official club website.

Q: What are your first impressions after some weeks of preparation?

Storm: A lot has changed. We have new players such as Ólafur Stefánsson, Carlos Prieto, Bjarte Myrhol, Michael Müller and Alexandros Alvanos. We also have a new coach Ola Lindgren. Everything’s new for everyone as it seems. But all of us – coach, management and players – enjoy the start of the season, even if the players have to sweat a lot in the current part of the preparation.

Q: One important player will miss a big part of the preparation is right winger Groetzki, who’s currently at the Junior World championship in Egypt. As Jan Filip has left Löwen you don’t have right winger for the friendly matches.

Storm: This is not easy for Patrick or for the club. Patrick can’t play with the team and the team can’t play with the roster we like to play this season. Patrick is a player of the future and highly talented - but it’s too tough for him to endure the long season with Bundesliga and Champions League. So we have a good look onto the market to search for another player.

Q: What are your objectives for the next season?

Storm: We developed quickly on court and we developed the whole structure of the club as well. Our objectives remain the same as last season. We belong to the top three teams in Germany and in the Champions League. This is a great balance after two years. If you want to win a title in the best national league of the world or in the Champions League, everything has to fit exactly, and you need some luck. But I think we have an ideal mixture in our team.

Q: Which player will develop the most next season?

Storm: Every player! We have to become a team and we have to show team spirit mostly in defence. Not the single players are important, but the team. And to reach our objectives we have a group that will develop in the right direction. This team will fit together.

TEXT: Björn Pazen