He has already worn the jersey of VfB Friedrichshafen, Recycling Volleys Berlin and United Volleys from Frankfurt, but also played for clubs in Poitiers, Masseik and Perugia.

Jan Zimmermann, 28 years old, volleyball professional by trade, has been around since he left his hometown club TV Rottenburg as a teenager.

He was German and Belgian champion, won silver at the European Championship.

And one thing has always remained constant for the man with the specialty of player: the 17 on the jersey - also with the German national team, with which he is currently playing at the European Championships in Tallinn.

Achim Dreis

Sports editor.

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“Janzi17”, as Zimmermann calls himself on social media, is a modern sports migrant worker who wants at least a reminder of his homeland with him: “17 is my house number from home,” he reveals: “I wear the number for ages. ”Not always and everywhere, but mostly.

Sometimes it was occupied by an established person when he came, but at his next club station in Padua he will be able to wear his lucky number again.

The role of the player

"Everything on the 17" is also the motto for his teammates in the competition. Of course, not with the hope of good luck, as in roulette, but as targeted as possible when accepting an opponent's attack, so that the director of the game can once again stage the attackers of his team in the best possible way with the second ball. In volleyball, players like Zimmermann have the main task of creating rhythm in the game, distributing the balls, using the dynamics of the other players and correctly assessing their skills.

Zimmermann uses a mixture of strategy and intuition.

"Every attacker needs a different ball," says the 1.90 meter tall man with the fine hand, explaining his basic procedure.

A Georg Grozer can be alluded to in a more risky way than other attackers.

However, it should also be noted which teammate is currently "on a run".

At the same time, he also pursues a tactical plan to confront the opponent with tricky tasks with a sequence of well-rehearsed attack variants.

Promising start to the European Championship

At the current European Championship in Estonia, communication with its teammates has been pretty good so far, with the German team winning three of the four preliminary round matches. Only against Olympic champion France had a 1: 3 defeat to be acknowledged, whereby national coach Andrea Giani also used the opportunity to use the breadth of his squad to work out the best possible line-up for the decisive phase of the tournament.

Before the final group game this Thursday (4 p.m.) against Slovakia, the Germans have already secured a place in the knockout round. It will be serious on Sunday or Monday in the round of 16, probably against the Czech Republic or Bulgaria. Before that, however, the transfer to the second venue, Ostrava, must be made. "It shouldn't be a problem," says Zimmermann - by which he means the upcoming trip to the Czech Republic, which is to take place with a charter flight.

The subsequent knockout game, in which the whole work of a successful preliminary round can become obsolete with a single weak performance, he approaches with the necessary seriousness, but feels the task as "positive pressure". The upstream game against Slovakia is not insignificant, but should be used as best as possible to pick up rhythm.

Jan Zimmermann would like to keep the generally good feeling of being on the road with the German team for a while longer. Because he thinks his status as a globetrotter of sport is basically “really nice”, but occasionally he also gets the feeling of homelessness. “It's not that easy sometimes,” he confesses. And so the national team, to which he has been a member for eight years, has the status of “second family” in his life. “We see each other every summer and some of them are best friends.” Says his roommate Moritz Reichert. "I've spent more time with him in recent years than with my family."