So German!

Congratulations on winning yesterday’s match against Serbia. That was quite the match!
Christian Fromm: It ended on a high note, even though we made life quite hard for ourselves. If you think about the fact that we have three matches in three days, you, of course, want to win early so you have more time for regeneration. But that’s sports!

What exactly is the Volleyball Nations League?
Christian Fromm: The Volleyball Nations League is a tournament of the best 16 teams in the world. For the next seven years, 12 of them are core teams, while the rest changes. We, as Germany, are a core team and therefore responsible to host one event in Germany. The top five as well as the host of the final-six qualify for the final week, which will be held in Chicago this year. This is definitely our goal!

How important is the Nations League to you in comparison to the World Championship?
The World Championship is definitely more important. The problem is that we missed our chance to enter the World Championship last year, which means that the Nations League gives our young team the opportunity to find itself and just improve, before our last chance to qualify for the Olympics next year in Tokyo. The highlight for this summer, however, is the European Championship.

Especially as such a young team, it is obvious that conflicts can occur. What exactly do you do to maintain the mood within the team and, above all, how do you deal with situations where things might not go as you imagined?
Christian Fromm: Thankfully we have fewer problems as a team. But of course, there is a team council that deals with these matters, among other things. As the captain of the team, you are of course always a port of call to solve these kinds of problems.

Thomas Ranner: I think it’s a combination of many aspects. There are a lot of places where our players can go in case of conflicts. It starts at the very top with the sports directorate and continues with the coach, who used to be a player himself and therefore has the necessary experience and understanding, through the captain all the way to the organization. That way the players know that they are taken care of and that everyone is contributing to the team.

Christian Fromm: Above all, it’s important that everyone understands the main goal and communicates the roles within the team clearly.

On the subject of role allocation: How exactly does this work in the game? In yesterday’s game, you clearly lost the second set with 16 points. I can imagine that the mood in the team isn’t the best in such a situation. How do you deal with such a situation and how well does it work? Do you take on a special role as captain, when it comes to motivating?
Christian Fromm: Generally, of course, I try. Surely, I didn’t play outstandingly in the second set either. However, we’ve all been here long enough to be able to assess and understand that the outcome of the set is our responsibility. There are also clear announcements from the outside and we, as a team, tell ourselves that we have to bring more energy and aggression into the game. In the third set, we were clearly leading again. Volleyball is unpredictable. You can’t predict who will play the better game until you start playing.

Do you then try to be more aggressive or do you downshift and play calmer, especially against weaker opponents?
Christian Fromm: It all depends on the opponent. Maybe the opposing team makes mistakes. However, I think that we generally set more aggressive standards, especially in the offense, we try to put on more pressure.

Thomas Ranner: There are simply not enough teams to say that avoiding mistakes will help us advance. We generally handle defeats and setbacks very well as a team. Everything is worked through calmly and it is clear to us as a team that we will win or lose TOGETHER. Thus, pressure situations such as a 25 to 16 are dealt with in a completely different way. As the team manager, I’m not sitting on the bench, but rather get to see a lot from the outside as a spectator. From this perspective, you can see that the team is equipped with a lot of peace and tranquility.

Christian Fromm: That’s the beauty of our coach: Due to his experience as a world-class player, he can usually assess the situation well and is not too emotionally charged. He manages to communicate his emotions in a professional manner.

Are there any differences between coaches at this level, especially when it comes to emotionality?
Christian Fromm: I think the dispersion between the trainers is very high. It sometimes happens that coaches, despite decades of experience, react very strongly when the referee whistles an incomprehensible decision. Of course, something like this also influences the team. But sometimes you have to be stricter and not let everything get through. The crucial thing is a good mix and that coaches can adapt to the characters of their players, especially with younger players in a team.

As a professional athlete, you are not only under pressure, you often have to deal with defeats and personal setbacks. I know this from personal friends, whose attitudes towards professional sports have had a huge impact on their everyday lives. They deal with setbacks in a completely different way. This “gift” is often called ‘resilience’ by psychologists and is less understood in everyday life by non-performance athletes. How do you deal with that?
Christian Fromm: It’s definitely another world. Of course, I was also under a lot of pressure when I wrote exams. However, it seems to me that the pressure, that we as athletes are exposed to, is completely different. I have to say that most of the people around me are professional athletes, including my wife. Of course, she also understands how I behave when I come home with a defeat and how she can react to it. It’s reasonable that in such an environment, you feel more understood.

Thomas Ranner: You learn to lose in sports. That in itself is very good because you will certainly lose one or two times in life. Sports really help you learn to deal with setbacks.

Do you have the feeling that, especially with so-called “marginal sports”, non-performance athletes show less understanding?
Thomas Ranner: We see this especially with our younger players, who are still attending school. At some point, it will be difficult to continue this sport if you don’t have enough support. You end up being surrounded by people who are willing to take part in this “circus” and you can see that especially with the young players.

How do you get younger players in such a context motivated to “stay on the ball” and continue to give their best?
Thomas Ranner: Basically one has to admit that those who don’t have any self-motivation will be patted on the shoulder at the end and pushed to the side. No matter how talented you are, if you need someone to motivate you to train, the chances of becoming a professional athlete are low. The effort outside of training, including your own strength training, your own physiotherapy, your own time management and the handling of everyday problems is far too great. We try to relieve the players from as much as we can because we know how much they have to do outside of training.

What would you recommend to young players or those, who want to compete in professional volleyball?
Thomas Ranner: If you have the chance and you don’t have to worry about the financial aspect, then, of course, it’s easier to choose competitive sports. I don’t know if I would have decided to pursue sports if my parents hadn’t supported me. The financial return from playing volleyball is not very high, so you should have a desire for the sport itself.

As a national team, you get to travel quite a bit, even if you don’t get to see much of the different cities. What has been your favorite destination so far?
Christian Frommer: I have to say that Ottawa is in on my “Top Three” list. Poland is also very beautiful because volleyball is very much celebrated there and the games are always an experience. Iran was also very interesting with 12,000 men, it got quite loud there.

Do you have certain rituals before every game?
Christian Frommer: There are fixed procedures and times when we get together again and shout “Deutschland” or who’s responsible for the music. But everybody has their own personal rituals.

We’re super excited to watch you in tonight’s match against Canada and we wish you the best of luck! Thank you for this conversation.

Here are the highlights from that Germany-Canada game, courtesy of the German Volleyball Federation: