Captain Joey Johnson says „good bye“
After nine years and altogether 19 titles in national and international competitions team-captain Joey Johnson will return to his home-country Canada with his family this summer. After coming to Wetzlar in 2003 Joey Johnson became a symbol of success for RSV Lahn-Dill, leading his team to seven national championships and german-cup wins also as winning four times the european Championsleague and the World-Championsleague Cup in 2010.
Without any doubt an era comes to an end for RSV Lahn-Dill, although the team managed lots of personell changes during the last two decades. First players like Stefan Donner and Günter Ritter left, then players like today´s coach Nicolai Zeltinger. 2006 was probably the biggest change when Lars Christink, Patrick Anderson, Nora Schratz and Markus Sniegocki left Wetzlar, but it brought the result that the team returned back on the european throne in 2010 at Rome.
With Joey Johnson now leaves a player who is not only on the court an excellent world-class Center but also a shining light off the court and in club´s environment. The two-times Paralympic-games-winner for Canada ist not only in Wetzlar an estimated athlete, but also in the whole german Bundesliga.
In 2003 he came to Wetzlar together with his teammate Patrick Anderson and made a major contribution to the longest winning-streak of the club yet by not being beaten for more than 34 consecutive months. After Anderson and Christink left Joey Johnson became captain of the team and led the squad back on the contnental throne in 2010. Now he will leave the team after now 262 games and 3.298 points for the club from Mittelhessen and plans to build up a new life in Canada together with his wife Missy and their children Owen, Kamryn and Brody.
Actually it was pretty obvious for both sides that Joey Johnson´s time in Wetzlar would come to an end after this season, because especially the school enrollment for his daughter Kamryn will be this summer. "We made Joey an offer to renew his contract although we knew, this would probably not be his plan. For us it was self-evident to do this because we definitly owed this to him. It is hard to imagine a team without him, but that´s how life goes." Coach Nicolai Zeltinger comments. Manager Andreas Joneck adds: "Joey Johnson is maybe the most valuable player that has ever played for RSV Lahn-Dill. We owe each other a lot, but RSV Lahn-Dill will keep its position in the future".