Portrait of Mirsad Fazlic, a Yugoslavian-born coach, who made a major impact on German table tennis. As a coach, his philosophy is based on trust and care as he works to develop young talents into future champions.

Mirsad Fazlic is one of many with Yugoslavian origin who have enriched German table tennis. The 53-year-old coach from Schleswig-Holstein fell in love with table tennis at the age of seven, first as a player then later continued the affair in his youth as a licensed coach in his club Sarajevo Bosna, as well as in the Slovenian federation. Mirsad is a passionate coach who is responsible for the region of Schleswig-Holstein. Here he also passes on his experience to young compass talents.

In 1994, during the Balkan War, Mirsad joined his girlfriend in Montenegro and the couple later became husband and wife, having two grown daughters today.

“Montenegro was not directly in the war zone, so it was safer, but still not the best place to live as a Bosnian, and after some time the police told me they could not guarantee my safety. I interpreted that to mean that I was in danger.”
Mirsad made the dramatic journey across the Mediterranean and via Italy he landed in Schwarzenbek, a town of 20,000 people about 30 km from Hamburg. He started as a part-timer in several clubs, getting paid by the hour but was soon hired full-time by the regional association. After a short while, his wife was able to join him and now their two daughters, in their twenties, are both table tennis players and licensed coaches who occasionally help their father with state squad training.

Mirsad is also part of the compass network, having scouted two talents now supported by the foundation – Luke Jalass, born in 2010, and Eduard Kardon, born in 2014.

“Once a year, the national association organises the ‘Days of Talents’- an event more than 100 children participate in, and on one occasion I saw Luke Jalass. He was 6 years old at the time but I called his father right after the tournament and said that I wanted to help and support Luke in his development. So, he started at the centre in Schwarzenbek at the age of six and by the age of nine he already won a national tournament in his age group. Definitely the right decision to scout such a talented player. For great talents, you have to find shortcuts to get an impetus for further development.”

Mirsad Fazlic’s own training philosophy is based primarily on trustworthiness. He strives to build a relationship of open communication with his players, never concealing key information from them.

“A coach has to be honest. You should give praise when a player does something well, but also let them know when they don’t, via constructive criticism. In general, I’ve found that a lot of coaches are afraid to be open about what may be going badly and place too much emphasis on harmony. Harmony is usually perfect and of course, something to strive for, but negligible when it comes to turning talents full of potential into top players. That’s the time to be honest and let the player know what needs to be changed.”

Building further on his philosophy, he maintains that trust and care are key.

“I take care of the player even outside the training hall; I help with homework or problems at school. I’m there but still with a little distance because I don’t believe in becoming your player’s best friend.” He has found that maintaining this professional boundary with his players allows them the space to find their own motivations outside of the sport, resulting in a more well-rounded and better adjusted athlete.

As for other important qualities, a coach should have so much passion that he is able to ignite the spark for table tennis in their player. The coach should have the ability to work hard, going to the gym, playing multiball training, even if there are personal conflicts at home.

“It is extremely important that good coaches show up with a passion for table tennis and are willing to work and play with the talents from a young age. This way, the talents get the chance to meet a competent person with this passion and then discover it for themselves.

I think it’s a problem that there aren’t more experienced and good coaches working with young players. I don’t really understand why. I’ve found that it’s much more fun to coach young kids since you can shape them much more than you can an established star.

I also believe that China doesn’t make this error, allowing for their domination in the sport. The Chinese talents experience mentoring and coaching at the highest level right from the start, which then carries through to their future careers.”

When considering the most important thing to pay attention to when training young talents, the first step is perfecting the basic positioning at the table and the way a player holds the racket.

“After that, learning the right technique and working a lot with footwork to become fast at the table. Then the change between backhand and forehand. You have to keep the racket up to get a good ball striking point. After that comes reaction time as well as the will or stamina to work hard for a long time.”

But as a coach, Mirsad believes one also has to have an ability for recognising certain moments, be able to improvise and be spontaneous. Introducing an element of whimsy is crucial in helping young players find the joy and delight amidst all the training and expectations; Mirsad opts to suddenly recite a rhyme to get his 6-years-old student to hit more balls on the table without making a mistake: “One, two – Easter egg, three-four – oaf, five six – old witch, seven eight – good night, nine ten – goodbye.”