“It was simply brilliant, when I came to the first training session of the Löwen after the World Championship, and the whole team was so happy with me. Above all, our experienced stars Uwe Gensheimer, who was already MVP at a U21 World Championship, and captain Patrick Groetzkl, who was U21 World Champion, followed the tournament very closely and congratulated me really emotionally,” says Späth, talking about the restart in preseason.
Still, those golden moments are more than present for the Kaiserslautern born goalkeeper, who has always played for Löwen, “I don't think that I have realised everything, it still seems pretty surreal. The three weeks of the World Championship just flew past me and it was really incredible to see the euphoria we spread all over Germany. I'm so happy that I was able to experience that. We were under pressure, as we were the favourites, but we managed to win all the games. We kept the excitement high. Everyone performed, no matter how much he was on the court, we constantly could call on our performance as a team.”
From the first official match of the new 2023/24 season, Späth was on fire again, saving 18 shots in the German Super Cup against THW Kiel, but could not prevent his side from losing after another penalty shoot-out. In that match, Späth was the number 1, but he has to fight hard to gain playing time at Rhein-Neckar Löwen, sharing the position with experienced Swede Mikael Appelgren and German international Joel Birlehm.
“Of course I have more momentum, self-confidence and motivation thanks to the World Championship, but nothing has changed in my role. I hope to get my playing time, but Mikael Appelgren and Joel Birlehm are two world-class goalkeepers. Despite the competition, we understand each other very well, we help each other a lot in games and in training. But of course, everyone wants to play.”
Späth knows how to fight. In early 2022, he tore his cruciate ligament, and was out much longer than expected, “Last season started out really difficult because I had to have another operation. That's why I missed the first eight games for Rhein-Neckar Löwen. I didn't get much playing time after that, but I fought back with good performances in training. I never gave up, and then came the unbelievable German Cup final in Cologne. I won my first men's title with Löwen - my club since my youth - and played my part in their success. That was really something special, followed by becoming U21 World Champion. All in all, it was a very turbulent season, I hope that the turbulence will continue, but in a positive way.”
When Rhein-Neckar Löwen successfully duelled with two-time EHF Champions League winners HC Vardar for a spot in the group phase of the EHF European League, but it was Appelgren and Birlehm who got time between the posts. Coach Sebastian Hinze knows that he can count on all three. Finally, Löwen won both qualifiers clearly with a 34:25 win in Skopje and a 37:33 at home.
“Last year we missed qualification for a European cup competition, two years ago, we failed in the qualification round, so being among those 32 group phase teams was a huge goal for us – and we managed to do so. We knew that especially the away match would be really tough in terms of atmosphere. And to be honest: I never saw fans like the ones from Vardar in Germany, but finally we made it and now we are looking forward to a long journey through Europe,” says Späth.
