SZ series “Läuft mit uns”: Manfred Schwabl’s trauma “Perlacher Mugl” – Munich district

Manfred Schwabl is not exactly perfectly equipped when he comes to the meeting point of the TSV Unterhaching Nordic walking group. White shirt, black pants – anything but fit for sports. And then not even a rain jacket in the luggage, although it is constantly showering this Thursday. “When angels travel, the sun shines,” says Schwabl – and he should be right: while the president of the Unterhaching football club is being introduced to the secrets of walking, it actually stays dry, although the sun peeks through the almost closed cloud cover.

No, the 56-year-old former professional footballer admits that he has not had any experience with this type of locomotion, but he knows the area where the TSV walkers meet very well: on the edge of the Perlacher forest, in the extension the Isartalstraße, which begins at the Unterhachinger Rathausplatz. “Over there is the Perlacher Mugl,” says Schwabl, pointing to the hill to the west with a startled look. “Egon Coordes, the assistant coach at the time, kept chasing him at FC Bayern, that was borderline. And above all, without any scientific or medical background.” Coordes assisted Udo Lattek and later Jupp Heynckes and was feared as a grinder. His intense fitness units also left their mark on Schwabl, who was a long-distance runner at the time, so he immediately appealed to course instructor Hedy Nguyen: “Please don’t walk in the direction of Mugl, otherwise my mental state will be a disaster.”

Resting heart rate 56: The mother of two-time silver medalist Marcel Nguyen measures Schwabl’s heart rate.

(Photo: Claus Schunk)

Schwabl is in a good mood, which could also be due to the events of the previous evening: he and his board colleagues were confirmed in office for another two years at the SpVgg annual general meeting with 110 votes from 110 club members present and for his ten-year presidency received a standing ovation. “We are proud to be able to work for this club and will do everything we can to get the absolute maximum out of the coming years,” said Schwabl after his re-election.

The club boss doesn’t show quite as much enthusiasm when walking: Hedy Nguyen, the mother of two-time Olympic silver medalist in gymnastics, Marcel Nguyen, shows him exactly how to put on the feather-light walking sticks. His resting heart rate before the start of the exercise session is a relaxed 56 – the best conditions for endurance training. “If we’re playing for promotion to the third division in the last game of the season, he’s probably at 256,” he joked. Schwabl also quickly mastered the flowing movement and rolling of the feet in Nordic Walking. “I’m in the flow,” he says, but then has to put up with one or two corrections from the course instructor.

SZ series "Run with us": Rooster in the basket: Schwabl in the midst of the women of the walking group who are enthusiastic about exercise.

Rooster in the basket: Schwabl in the midst of the women of the walking group who are enthusiastic about exercise.

(Photo: Claus Schunk)

It’s been 25 years since Schwabl ended his career as a footballer – back then, when he was captain of TSV 1860 Munich, there was a legendary argument with the then Lion President Karl-Heinz Wildmoser. Schwabl had organized a season-ending party for the team, but the boss then invited it himself at short notice. The captain boycotted the competitive event, the rupture that followed could no longer be repaired, and Schwabl, who was 31 at the time, gave up. And not just with football, but with any kind of physical activity: “I didn’t do anything for a year,” he reveals. Then he, who was considered one of the players with the best physical condition in the Bundesliga, slowly got back to running, “but at home in Holzkirchen I can’t jog ten meters until someone speaks to me again, I didn’t have any peace”. So he got himself a treadmill, which he now works on three times a week. “Unlike many of my former colleagues, I don’t have any knee or ankle problems. And running is just in my genes.”

That doesn’t necessarily apply to walking, which is why Schwabl soon breaks off the unit – friendly but determined, “it’s not my sport”, and an appointment at the sports park also requires his presence. And then there’s also an invitation for Hedy Nguyen and her fellow campaigners: Sometime after the “Run for Trees” they should visit him in the Wirtshaus am Sportpark, the bill is of course on the house. And with a portion of “Manni’s ham noodles” in your stomach, you’ll have enough strength to walk again – possibly even enough to conquer the Perlacher Mugl.

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