FIRST TEAM
03/13/2018

Stefan Posch: "I have to fight through this!"

Professional contract signed in 2017, appearances in the Bundesliga and in the Europa league, nominated for the Bundesliga “Rookie of the Month” award. Stefan Posch’s career is trending upwards. However, the 20-year-old has been working through some injury problems of late and has been forced to watch the action from the sidelines. achtzehn99.de spoke to the Austrian about this “difficult time”.

28th September 2017 - TSG Hoffenheim are playing against Bulgarian champions Ludogorets on matchday 2 of the Europa League group stage. Stefan Posch is in the starting eleven, after recently impressing in his professional debut. The youngster’s performance was so good in the eyes of Julian Nagelsmann in fact, that he started the game against FC Augsburg in the Bundesliga. Nine further Bundesliga games as well as four Europa League appearances would follow. But right as his career was just taking off, the Austria Under-21 international ran into some injury trouble.

Injuries stop Stefan Posch in his tracks

The injury was in the groin and adductor area. More specifically, it was to his hip. “I hoped at the time that having a bit of time off throughout the winter break would have allowed the injury to heal itself. That didn’t happen.” The lack of knowing how long he’d be out for was the thing that got to Stefan Posch above all. “To stay mentally strong in that situation is difficult. There’s hardly anything worse for a footballer than being injured. Even if it’s hard, I still want to fight my way back into the team.”

The daily training in the weight room and on the pitch is tiring. A bit of differentiation in the everyday rehab routine is always welcome: “Being in contact with my teammates every day helps a lot. The communal mealtimes, the meetings with various players - it’s all important for me. The distraction does me good. My family are also going to pay me a visit soon. I’ve got a lot of support.” Nevertheless, Posch is aware that “even if the boys are there for me and support me - it’s down to me to get through this myself at the end of the day.”

Fully supported on the long road back to fitness

He isn’t alone though. On his side: Otmar Rösch. TSG’s physio is working hard with him towards his eventual comeback: “Otti has a lot of experience regarding injured players and pushes me as hard as he can. I feel like I’m in good hands. My biggest aim is to be able to get back outside onto the pitches and be training with the rest of the team.” On Tuesday, he fulfilled that aim as he took part in team training once again. A tired, but happy Stefan Posch said that he “felt good” out on the pitch with the rest of the boys after the session was over. This step in the right direction “motivates me to keep on pushing.”

It’s a light at the end of the tunnel for Posch, who’s already set himself another ambitious target: “It’s really good to be able to train with the rest of the team in full. I want to slowly get settled back into things in training and get some game practice with the Under-23s as soon as possible. Then who knows? The coach knows my qualities and that I want to play again, as soon as possible. It would be great if I could make another appearance in the Bundesliga this season. But first, I want to get back to full fitness and fight through this!”

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