Munich (AP) – Manuel Baum is looking for new pictures. The former Bundesliga coach of FC Augsburg and FC Schalke 04 dedicates himself to grassroots work in addition to other projects. The 42-year-old coaches the U8s at TSV Trudering, where his six-year-old son plays football.
“The children don’t yet have an image in their heads for terms like running free or moving. It’s about age-appropriate communication and age-appropriate decision-making training,” Baum told the German Press Agency in Munich.
How to convey a concept to children? You have to find a suitable image that they know. Children know what a person looks like. Left leg, left arm, right arm, right leg, heart pretty much in the middle, head on it, and so on.
Coaches convey ideas
“It mustn’t be a giant, the legs mustn’t be too long,” Baum explained the picture, which he passed on to the children. “Behind it are ideas like compactness, counter-pressing and pushing. The children understand that at an age and in a way that I didn’t even think was possible.”
Coaches convey ideas, Baum has already done that in the Bundesliga. He looked after FC Augsburg from December 2016 to April 2019, after which he was a junior coach at the German Football Association. Most recently, he coached Schalke from September 2020 to December 2020. Baum has not accepted a job since then, there have been offers.
“Of course it can start again. But it has to fit, the right decision-makers have to be in the right place for that,” said Baum. “Just being a trainer would not be enough for me, I would like to be able to at least give impulses strategically.”
“Life is constant learning”
Baum is also his own driving force. “For me, life is constant learning. You can always take impulses with you and build them into your attitude,” said Baum. Just waiting for the right call doesn’t correspond to the former goalkeeper’s sense of entitlement.
Baum has been working for Sky since 2012, giving the TV station his expertise. Born in Landshut, he has also become an entrepreneur in the field of data analysis. With his team, for example, he covers the entire Bundesliga in Germany for the pay-TV channel.
“I’m currently dealing with a lot of interesting and innovative football-related topics, all of which more or less contribute to football,” explained Baum. “It has always been important to me to have a 360-degree view of the sport. When you talk about content, no matter what your perspective, it’s easier to judge things when you’ve experienced them yourself.”
Tree is ready again
Professional coaches are under the magnifying glass of the public. They are constantly being questioned, and people are constantly doubting them. “It’s a very, very demanding job,” said sports psychologist Werner Mickler. But the job is also so attractive because of its exclusivity. “Footballers have the best job,” said RB Leipzig coach Domenico Tedesco, “the second best is to be a coach.”
Tree is ready again. “I’m not the copy-and-paste trainer, nor the YouTube trainer who takes over something out of context. I want to be one step ahead. What can I do differently so that the opponent has to adapt to us?” Said Baum and stressed: “I burn for football.”