After 22 years of coaching in Luxembourg, Sparta’s youth coach Christophe Flammang is taking on a new challenge in the upcoming season. In fact, he is taking a path that only very few people from Luxembourg have taken so far as he will coach abroad in the 2022/23 season. Flammang will coach at Bamberg (Germany) in the so called « freak city academy ».
After 22 years of coaching in Luxembourg, what made you take this step?
This was not all planned. It has been a process over the recent weeks. When I was in Berlin with Dorian Grosber, I realized that the youth performance field is exactly what I have always been looking for. I decided to send my CV to a couple of clubs and 2 months later I signed in Bamberg, a decision that will completely change my life.
Why did you choose Bamberg? What will be your tasks?
It is not easy to be considered as a Luxembourg coach at all. That’s why I consulted with German agents and German coaching colleagues. So there was a phone call with youth coordinator Wolfgang Heyder from Bamberg and I was invited to Bamberg for an appointment. We noticed that there were very positive and productive discussions on both sides, and this is exactly how the collaboration came about.
In Bamberg, my main task will be to lead, coach and structure the U14 and U13 area. The goal of the Freak City Academy is to find and develop the best players in the region and thus continue to be a top-ranked youth player destination in Germany.
In addition, I will participate in the basketball boarding school in terms of individual player development and, of course, further optimize the club’s structures with the entire coaching staff.
Bamberg itself is also a very beautiful city (Unesco world heritage) where it is nice to live. In addition, the city is completely basketball crazy and completely identifies with the basketball club.
What are you looking forward to the most in your new job?
I’m looking forward to working in a highly professional environment where everyone has the goal of preparing young players for the Bundesliga. In addition, it is life as a professional coach, where one has time to further train oneself as a coach and to look over the shoulders of the coaching staff of the other youth teams or in the professional team and work with them.
It is always said that luxembourgish players/coaches do not leave Luxembourg because they want to stay in their comfort zone (lifestyle and financially), in how far did these questions have an influence in your decision?
Of course, the question arose when it became more concrete to leave Luxembourg. Am I staying in my comfort zone with a teaching salary in Luxembourg or do I want to continue as a basketball coach? In terms of basketball, I came to a point in Luxembourg’s youth basketball where it’s difficult to take the next step in Luxembourg. At Sparta, we have improved the structures so that they are comparable to professional academies and regularly win national titles. However, one always notices that the limits of amateur basketball are reached at some point. Basketball is my passion and money is not everything in life, that is why I took this decision to go to Bamberg, I also want to develop as a human being and to gain new experiences. I can also say that the offer by Bamberg is very decent and I will not suffer from hunger (laughs).
What is your message to the people/players that worked with you over the years?
The last 4 years at Sparta have been very significant for me as I have trained a youth team with boys who have shown a seriousness and professionalism that I have not experienced in over 20 years as a basketball coach before. The corona era brought us even closer together and the boys worked very hard during this difficult phase. The result makes me extremely proud: Dorian Grosber received a scholarship from Alba Berlin, over 10 players from the current cadets team made the leap into the extended senior squad. With Chris Wulff, the absolutely right man as coach is now responsible for supporting the players in the next step. I hope that the players continue to work as seriously as possible and that Sparta manages to play for the title with as many self-trained players as possible in the medium term.
A big “thank you“ of course to all the people at Sparta, the committee and the whole environment for the trust I gained over two decades in Bertrange and through which I was able to develop myself as a coach.
