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TSGDocu - Deniz Solmaz - "Simply different".

Episode 1: How it all began

Welcome to the first episode of "Deniz Solmaz - Simply Different."

TSGMedia: Hello Deniz, let's start at the beginning: What was your very first contact with soccer?

Deniz: Unfortunately, I can still remember it very well. It was in the F-youth at the club in my town. I went there with a friend. That was my first soccer training and then my last for many years. The trainer was okay, but the exercises were just too hard. I just lost the fun and didn't go there anymore. We did header training with pretty heavy balls. At that time, that was still common. To this day, I still don't like headers at all (laughs).

TSGMedia: What happened next? You probably discovered soccer for yourself at some point.

Deniz: I didn't want to know anything about soccer until I was a junior. The experiences I had in my very first training sessions left their mark on me. At some point, a friend persuaded me and I went to my home club, JSG Dietzhölztal, for training. The guys were cool and I realized that I really enjoyed kicking and taking responsibility. The first invitations for the district and regional selections came pretty soon. That all happened very quickly. Since the D-youth, I have always been captain and have always had an intensive exchange with the coaches.

TSGMedia: I heard from one of your former coaches that you weren't always the easiest player to take care of. How do you see that?

Deniz: I'll put it this way: I wasn't the worst player at the clubs where I played. That's what everyone told me. So I didn't lack self-confidence (laughs). Since my performance was mostly good, I was then at some point also a fixed part of the Hesse selection and I like to say what I think, it was certainly not easy for some of my former coaches. I have always said what I think, without thinking about the consequences. With the Hessenauswahl I was also allowed to sniff the big soccer air. That's when I realized that I wanted to do this professionally soon.

TSGMedia: Tell us what you think shaped you the most in your youth.

Deniz: My childhood wasn't always easy. When I was seven or eight years old, my parents got divorced. Unfortunately, I had to experience the whole circus firsthand. In a night and fog action I then moved out of home with my brother and my mother. Two to three years later there was peace. My mother had to take care of us alone and had a 40-hour job on the side. That meant for my brother and me that we were on our own and had to grow up quickly. I think I still benefit from that today. I was always able to make my own decisions, but then I also had to bear the consequences myself. So I learned very early to be independent. That still helps me extremely today.

TSGMedia: Your school years didn't go so well. What feelings accompany you when you think about your school days?

Deniz: To be honest, school was never a place where I liked being. I think that's a shame. I had stress there every day and my mother often had to go to the principal. Now that I have been allowed to accompany children and young people on their way for 20 years, I also realized why I was such a circus at school back then. I have always been a very honest person and told everyone what I thought. Now everyone can imagine how popular I was with the teachers. My key experience was back in the second grade. I was hopelessly underchallenged in mathematics and was given assignments from the fourth grade. I was supposed to skip the third grade at that time, but my German skills threw a wrench in the works. I didn't feel taken seriously as a person and was just bored. Well, then the circus started.
My grades were good. But my social and work behavior did not suit my teachers. And that continued throughout my entire time at school. All in all, I had to sit out of school twice and, unfortunately, was expelled from school once. In the end, I just about managed to graduate from secondary school. The school in its form was not my place. I'm definitely not proud of my school career. But I am extremely proud of the fact that I never let myself be bent. I still tell everyone what I think today and I don't get bent. The teachers wanted to put me in a mold. But I didn't want that, I wanted to stay the way I am.

TSGMedia: You had to hang up your active career as a player relatively early on. What exactly happened?

Deniz: At the peak of my career, when I was 15/16 years old, everything went according to plan. In the meantime, I played for SG Eschenburg, was captain there, in the district and regional selection, and was an integral part of the Hesse selection. At that time I trained with the B - Juniors, A - Juniors and with the first team. Seven sessions a week were normal. I was totally consumed by ambition and absolutely focused. Friends, parties and alcohol were not an issue, I wanted to become a professional. But then the phase began that I don't like to remember. I went from one doctor to the next with my mother. I had two operations on my groin and it just didn't get any better. Then the doctor told me that I should stop playing soccer and go to work. That was a huge shock for me. I needed one or two months to collect myself. Then I decided not to cry forever and to take a different path. I became coach of the D-youth from my club and so I was in the coaching business.

How Deniz became the youngest youth leader in Germany at the age of just 18, why he gave up a secure job and what his first steps in Wieseck were like, you can read here next week in the next episode of "Deniz Solmaz - Simply Different".