TSGDoku - Deniz Solmaz - Simply Different

Part 6: The alumni

Last but not least, Luca Waldschmidt has his say. Luca is currently under contract with top Portuguese club Benfica Lisbon. After several stints in the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt, Hamburger SV and SC Freiburg, he decided to take on a new challenge in the summer. Luca is also a senior player for the German national team. As a youth player he spent some great moments in the jersey of TSG Wieseck.

Luca: "First of all, I always remember my time in Wieseck very fondly - accordingly, of course, Deniz. I also have fond memories of my former coaches Kai-Uwe and Norbert. When I think of Deniz one thing comes directly to my mind, which was not always easy for me in the beginning, but I think in the end developed even more ambition in me.

At some point, he started giving me a nickname (which I don't want to repeat now (laughs)) that was not very flattering for a soccer player and also deliberately called me that in front of my teammates. Because I wasn't the strongest physically and there was still a lot to be optimized.

That was extremely annoying at the time, but it also made me think. At first I was angry and avoided his presence, but over time I understood what he wanted.
His goals were also to get more out of me when things were going well for me athletically, and to show me my weaknesses so that I would work on myself even more. He wanted to make every player better and only the best for everyone, even if there were unpleasant topics to address. I think that's what Deniz is all about. Always striving to get the maximum out of his players."