“We came to stay.” It doesn’t take long for Christian Held to mention the new motto. André Jürgens also doesn’t need much time in a conversation before the identical sentence escapes his lips. Coaches and managing directors of the Rostock Seawolves are determined not to vacate the place they have just conquered on the German basketball map anytime soon.
Here to stay: These are bold announcements for a newcomer to the basketball Bundesliga, which the upstart from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has already followed up with action. Four wins in the first four games, you have to look far back in league history to discover something similar. “Before the season we asked ourselves how long it would take before we won the first game,” admits managing director Jürgens. Now the entire league is wondering, “when will we lose for the first time?”
However, that could happen next Sunday. Then the top game of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) is on the schedule, the table first receives the second. And the Primus is not one of the Euroleague representatives from Berlin or Munich, nor one of the highly rated teams like Bonn, the first round winner of the previous season; or the up-and-coming Hamburgers, the playoff candidates Ludwigsburg or Oldenburg. Leaders are, yes, truly: the Rostock Seawolves. And that after victories against Ulm, in Ludwigsburg, against Braunschweig and finally against the previously unbeaten Göttingen.
Of course, that’s a snapshot, says Held, “a very nice one,” for which there are good reasons. On the one hand, his team benefits from the continuity. Teams often undergo major refurbishments after moving to a higher division, with the Seawolves having eight out of twelve players from last season under contract. One of them, the courted promotion hero Tyler Nelson, was the best point collector in the second division and had made the promotion perfect with his three-pointer in the final second to win against Jena.
The Seawolves have a well-established team – and have shown a lot of skill with the additions
In addition, the squad was strengthened in a targeted manner, with those responsible also showing a good touch, as demonstrated by winger Derrick Alston junior. With an average of 24.5, the American is the best point collector – of the Sea Wolves and the entire league. The Rostockers are also characterized by the fact that they act passionately in every game; the most recent games against Braunschweig and Göttingen they turned in the final phase, after significant deficits.
So now Alba Berlin is making a guest appearance in the Stadthalle, which has long been sold out with 4,700 spectators. The benchmark in German basketball, as coach Held recalls: “Alba is the measure of all things in the Bundesliga, which has developed enormously in recent years.” But he doesn’t want to consider his selection without a chance against the double winner either: “We’ll approach the game like any other”, meaning: “We want to win and will throw everything in.” The Rostockers could get a pass from the fact that Berlin is weakened and arrives with a Euroleague defeat in Valencia in the bones. The European Championship bronze medalists Maodo Lo and Johannes Thiemann have been missing for weeks.
Rostock’s unique selling proposition: Christian Held (left) is the head coach of the Seawolves. Father Ralph, from whom he learned the coaching trade, his assistant.
(Photo: Oliver Kramer/dpa)
Only: Even the first defeat should not throw the club from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania off track; the four ticks behind the previous games, as managing director Jürgens describes the victories, are no longer taken away from them. His club would need eleven of them in order to achieve the “absolute goal of staying up”. Because the motto of the Seawolves should not become a platitude, Rostock is determined to mature into a permanent fixture in the first division.
The conditions for this seem good, according to Held, the club has one of the most members in Germany, and the home games are very well attended. The budget is 5.3 million euros, says Jürgens, about 100 sponsors fill a pool of patrons. Solid work in the niche, you could say: Eight years ago the club was promoted to the third division, four years ago to the second. So why, according to Jürgens, shouldn’t it be possible to think about the playoffs in four years?
No one stands for the club like the 45-year-old, who once stood on the field for Rostock himself. From referee to hall announcer, he has hardly missed a role at the Seawolves. And still remembers the times when the first basketball club Rostock e. V., which he has headed since 2016, played against Halstenbek and Bramsche in front of 200 spectators. The club has been called Seawolves for a year, but is still a registered club in the first division – which should change in the near future with a spin-off of the professional department, says Jürgens.
With the commitment of the former national coach Dirk Bauermann, the Rostockers suddenly became known
The basketball players remained hidden from the general public for a long time, Rostock was known for football and handball, both sports in which the largest city in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was a leader in GDR times. That changed abruptly when the club announced the appointment of Dirk Bauermann in 2020; the former master and national coach joined the project when it threatened to stagnate. At that time, Bauermann got Christian Held from Trier as his assistant.
Because Rostock missed promotion, the club and Bauermann went their separate ways, by mutual agreement. With Held as the new boss, the Sea Wolves then slid into the basketball bel étage. Like his predecessor, the 34-year-old had gotten a new assistant: his father Ralph, 64. Ralph Held was a successful coach in Trier and Oldenburg, sports director at the German Basketball Association, he set up a coaching academy in Oldenburg. The son also went to his father to train as a trainer. He was looking for someone, says Held junior, who, in addition to a lot of expertise, also gives him his opinion – which apparently works well. The father-son combination is another unique selling point of the Seawolves.
Incidentally, Dirk Bauermann, who is currently coaching the national basketball team from Tunisia, has already initiated a German basketball project. In 2010 he went to the then second division team FC Bayern Munich as national coach. What blossomed from that can be seen today in the Euroleague. Before the season, the 64-year-old made a guest contribution to the Baltic newspaper Assessing the prospects for the newcomer: “I think the Seawolves have a team at every level that will represent themselves, the club, the city and the country very well.”