To illustrate how well they look out for each other in their new team constellation, Clemens Wickler chose the "parable of the last potato".

Should the situation arise when eating together with his new beach partner Nils Ehlers that only one potato in the bowl would be left, "Nils would leave them to me", Wickler was convinced.

Of course, Ehlers seemed a bit surprised that he was credited with so much empathy.

Achim Dreis

sports editor.

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Harmonious cooperation, as can be read from this story, is very important in the newly assembled Ehlers/Wickler team.

The two are still getting to know each other, which apparently does not pose any problems in terms of leisure activities and character traits.

"As long as you play together for such a short time, you get along well with each other," said the 28-year-old Ehlers, whose reserved manner is pleasant off the field.

Fast commitment

On the other hand, the 2.10 meter block specialist is less considerate, but self-confident and above all victory-oriented-two important reasons why Wickler chose him after his previous congenial partner Julius Thole surprisingly early in the beach volleyball career in favor of the Jura -had given up studying.

The duped defensive root Wickler chose the direct route to find a new partner for the network.

He simply called Ehlers because he knew that his longtime partner Lars Flüggen had also ended his career.

The person called was on a Bundeswehr training course and was surprised and also felt honored that the World Cup runner-up contacted him.

Ehlers asked for time to think about it, but called back half an hour later and said yes.

The newly forged collaboration was now accompanied by the conversion of some techniques - and above all by committing to a certain style.

“The Ehlers-Wickler volleyball”, as team leader Wickler describes it, should be characterized by a deliberately high risk.

"We want to put the opponent under pressure," announces the 27-year-old, especially with a huge jumping, also at the risk of "that sometimes we look stupid".

A series of serve errors can also be "frustrating", as Ehlers admits, but overall these wasted balls should be more than made up for by the winners: "We're still going for it".

Trainers Thomas Kaczmarek and Jürgen Wagner, who want to advance the development of the German top team at the federal base in Hamburg, are responsible for the Winner strategy.

In the ball game, they act according to the principle of "many repetitions".

Individual elements are practiced so often and intensively until they have solidified.

Only then does the focus on the next move follow.

"Much brain power"

According to Ehlers, what has changed the most is self-control on the field: “How do I get myself in the right mood?

How do I deal with errors?

How do I control emotions?”.

Finding solution-oriented answers to these questions are cognitive challenges that “eat a lot of brain power”.

The preliminary round with 48 teams in twelve groups of four, of which 32 reach the knockout stages, appears as a phase of warming up.

The Germans start this Saturday (3 p.m. live on Sportdeutschland.TV) against the largely unknown Uruguayans Hannibal/Cairus, then take on the athletically strong Cubans Diaz/Alayo (Sunday, 4 p.m.) and finally play the Australians McHugh/Burnett (Monday, 8 p.m.).

It is the starting phase, not only for the World Cup in Rome, but also on the long road to the Olympic Games in 2024. "Our clear goal is Paris," says Nils Ehlers, who was born in Berlin and who, incidentally, is also studying law, in contrast to Thole who jumped but leaves no doubt that he will devote his full concentration to the sport at least until 2024.

Meanwhile, Clemens Wickler has ended the successful but short era of Thole, as he says.

"Comparisons wouldn't help," the native of Starnberg is convinced.

But as it is in life, it doesn't work without contact with your former partner.

"What I think is cool," says Wickler: "Julius Fiebert." And even cooler: Thole avoids giving us to give us: "He lets us do our thing".

However, Thole would never have given away the last potato without a fight.