Rostock (dpa/mv) - The Rostock Seawolves team celebrates Christmas in an unfamiliar environment. Because the Mecklenburgers have to play the Merlins Crailsheim in the Bundesliga on Friday evening (7:00 p.m.) and face the Fraport Skyliners on December 26 (6:00 p.m.), the team and family members will spend the holidays in a hotel in Frankfurt. "The fact that the players can't go home because of the schedule cannot be changed. The fact that we're not even in the city where we play, live and work doesn't make it any easier," emphasized Christian Held. The head coach praised his own club: "The organization did an outstanding job of supporting us as much as possible." He also thanked the Skyliners, in whose training center the Seawolves can prepare.

About the upcoming opponent, currently 14th in the BBL, Held said: "Recently there was a bit of unrest in the organization. You have to see how they deal with it, because something like that can go in any direction." The host had only recently parted ways with head coach Sebastian Gleim. Since then, his previous assistant Nikola Markovic has been in charge. "That's why it's difficult for us to calculate them because we just don't know exactly what's coming. For us it's a bit like a grab bag," revealed Held.