TSGDoku - Deniz Solmaz - Simply Different

Episode 2: A new talent

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

TSGMedia: You became coach of the D-juniors of SG Eschenburg when you were only 16 years old. Pretty young for a coach. What was it like?

Deniz: The decision to become a coach motivated me again in the difficult time after my sporting end. The ambition I had as a player back then, I wanted to transfer to the new goal. I really enjoyed working with the players. I have thrown their sporting lives a little out of kilter. A training camp, more training sessions and more content. I'm sure I overwhelmed some of them with it. Not only did some players or their parents not always agree with my pace, but the number of my critics also increased during this time. But I wanted to get the maximum out of it. Players who went along with it loved it. The others cursed me.

TSGMedia: After secondary school, you started a metalworking apprenticeship at the Rittal company and also started your own business at the same time. What exactly did you do?

Deniz: My weak high school diploma screwed up my start in the apprenticeship. I didn't find anything that I would have enjoyed. I was lucky to have found anything at all a year after graduation. The training was not what I had imagined. But I survived it, which was very important. I was elected to the works council and wanted to play an active role there, too. When I was 18, I moved out of home and started an Internet company on the side. I sold batteries for notebooks and cell phones. That went really well.

TSGMedia: You became a youth leader at 18, a B-junior coach at 19 and the youngest A-license holder in Germany at 21. How did you manage to do all that so quickly?

Deniz: I subordinated everything to my goals. I had a lot of fun accompanying children and young people on their way. For me, nothing else came into question professionally but exactly that. At that time, the position of youth director was vacant and I wanted to make a difference.

I always kept my ears close to the players and wanted to do what I thought was right for them.

I wanted to learn as much as possible. So I completed all the licenses as quickly as possible. I am also very grateful to some people who recognized my ambition and made it all possible for me. The A license was the crowning glory. I will never forget this time. I spent the training together with many ex-professionals. As a BVB fan, it was a great honor to be able to do it with Steffen Freund, among others. At that time, I was still with my home club and was allowed to get a taste of the professional world. A great experience!

At the age of 20, you completed your training. You consciously decided against a secure job, which you would have gotten there. Why?

Deniz: I wanted to work with people and not with machines. That became clear to me at that time. After the apprenticeship, I went back to school and tried to catch up on my advanced technical college entrance qualification in Siegen. Again, I was not successful at school. The planning of the next training sessions, the next trips and the development of the JSG Eschenburg were somehow more important than the school material. As a result, I failed again.

TSGMedia: When you were 21 years old, the contact to TSG Wieseck came about. How did it come about?

Deniz: I really liked my players in Eschenburg and am still in contact with them today. I'm also very grateful to the people in charge back then for giving me so much freedom and forgiving me for my mistakes. But it was clear that I wanted to take the next step. During my B-license training, I met Willi Mehlbaum, who was coaching the U19s in Wieseck at the time. She must have noticed that I was investing so much and then asked me if I wanted to come to Wieseck. For me, TSG Wieseck was already something very special back then. I can still remember my first conversations with the people of Wieseck. At that time I said that I would even walk the 70 kilometers to Wieseck every day (laughs). At the end of 2006, my dream came true and I took over the U14 in Wieseck.