HTU Managers

In The Spotlight – a new and in-depth look at some of the managers and their teams from the HTUM-federation.

The town of Banská Štiavnica in Central Slovakia is home to MOD-paul33, manager of the locally based FK Sitno Banská Štiavnica. In the interview with the HTUM fed blog reporter Paul33 talks about the past few years when he has been “sheriffing” the public forums as a MOD and his long-term plans for FK Sitno Banská Štiavnica.

Thanks for taking out the time to talk to us, Paul33. Can you tell the readers something about yourself?

Paul33

I am 23 years old and I’m studying management science. Besides sitting @Hattrick I enjoy running and football. I don’t really support any team. I like Manchester United, Bayern Munchen and Juventus at present and I was a fan of Real Madrid during the era of Zidane, Rául, Beckham, Figo, Robert Carlos etc. Nowadays I prefer watching those three teams mentioned, but only in the Champions League. I like to watch cycling and NHL (Colorado Avalanche) a lot, but I like all sorts of sports. I haven’t seen any Avalanche game yet, but I had an option via Eurolanche.com – the first Avalanche European fan club! The fan club made five trips to Denver already, the last one on March 13!

Another hobby beside sports is probably marketing. I really like all kinds of marketing and advertising. I study a lot of case studies about this topic. I also like being with friends or playing some game with them – like poker.

You currently live in Banská Štiavnica. Is there anything particular about the region, something you would recommend people to see/visit? What would you recommend people to eat and drink when visiting?
Banská Štiavnica is an old mining town with the first Mining Academy in the world, established by Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa. There is a lot to see, such as the Old and New Castle, the Slovak Mining Museum, etc. Also, I recommend a visit to the brewery Erb. Every beer there is tasty, but also a bit expensive (for a student definitely!). For our region there is no specific food I think, but the Slovak national food is “Bryndzové halušky” (sheep cheese dumplings) – AWESOME FOOD!

Bryndzové halušky

What made you start blogging on HTU? What are your plans with your blog?

I really like to talk. On the internet you can mostly just write. I really like sport and commenting, if possible (haha lol). So I made a blog to I do what I like. There no plans right now, I don’t have much time for the blog at present, but maybe in the future I’ll write in English if there will be an interest.

How does one become a MOD? Do you apply for the job or get contacted?

I think I became a MOD in June 2011. I was contacted by a local GM because former moderators were busy and did not have much time left to moderate. So I was asked to join, because I was pretty active. An experienced MOD gave me a lecture on what to do and how.

What are your main tasks? How much time do you spent on average sheriffing the forums?

As moderators we have to make and keep a pleasant environment on the public forums. We have to use our tools to make people behave on the forums, e.g. avoiding any kind of offense and keeping the rules of the forums. It is hard to say how long it takes per day. It depends on the activity of the community. For example on Friday evening, when the U20/NT matches are played there are much more posts than normally.

What do you like most/least about being a MOD?
Hm….I really hate when I have to solve some bigger issues. I don’t even enjoy banning. What I like at most? I have no idea, haha Well, being a mod is no fun at all. As I said, we have to make a pleasurable environment, but some people just don’t like it when their post is deleted or they are banned for breaking the rules. I guess there are no funny stories. I log in, I check the forums, I moderate them. Daily. So it’s a routine and a habit I think. And someone has to do it.

What are your plans for the future – as a MOD, but also for your own team?
As moderator I want to act in such a way that I won’t be a “badass” for the users. As far as my own team is concerned, I started a rebuilding project and I am training passing right now. I want to grow my own inner midfielders and technical defensive forwards (TDF) (for the team core) and I bought forwards and wingers. In about one or two seasons I would like to promote to Division III. It is definitely a long term project – at least the way I do it. I started out by training the inner midfielders in playmaking with the idea to switch to passing when they reach a certain level of playmaking. In the process I found out what a TDF is and how cool it is. So I bought some TDFs and trained them in playmaking. I am training passing presently, which benefits both inner midfielders and TDFs. Afterwards I will switch to scoring to “finish of” my TDFs.