Thanks to childhood love: Entry in the history books of football

Karin Tries is the assistant coach of the defensive backs at the Sea Devils – and the first woman on the coaching staff of a German ELF team.

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Hamburg. It’s such a thing with the first love of your life. You can never forget them, although some would certainly like to do so. Others marry her and live happily ever after. And then there are people like Karin Tries who, thanks to their childhood romance, even create historical things. In the 2022 season, the 24-year-old will be on the coaching staff of the Hamburg Sea Devils in the ELF European Football League, becoming the first woman in a German club. And if she hadn’t been with Marlon Dede ten years ago, this story would never have happened.

Dede played for Hamburg Pioneers Football in 2013. “I didn’t know the sport at all, but I accompanied him to almost every training session to watch and was immediately totally gripped by it,” says the native of Aachen, who has lived in the north since she was two years old. Because she diligently posted her own sporting activities – athletics in HSV, Thai boxing and cross-country skiing through a group of her sports class at the district school in Eppendorf – on social media, she asked Dave Duddeck, then coach of the Pioneers, in 2016 whether she would like to try football for yourself.

American Football: Tries works as a volunteer coach

She did – and because her first season in 2017 ended with the North German championship title with the women’s team Amazons, her passion for America’s favorite sport was unstoppable. In 2018, the defensive player, who plays all positions off the line, won the German championship with the Snappers, the Pioneers’ mixed-gender flag football team, alongside Kenneth Flanders – the man with whom she now coaches the Sea Devils to optimize pass defense.

How it came about is just as curious as her career. Karin Tries has been working as a trainer with children on a voluntary basis at a riding stable near Kiel for several years. She also looks after the cross-country skiing club at her former school. In 2019 she also took over a flag football club at the Meiendorf district school. She does not have a football coaching license, but because one is not required for assistant jobs in the ELF, she sent Flanders an unsolicited application via WhatsApp in the fall, asking if she could help him work with the defensive backs.

“It’s a huge honor”

After some discussions about the position group and a series of tasks that Flanders gave them, it was clear that the Sea Devils were very interested. “Karin is another good example of the fact that Hamburg football not only produces many talented players, but also great coaching talents. We are very proud to have her as the first German coach in the ELF,” says Managing Director Max Paatz. Across Europe there was a female coach in the assistant field last season in Barcelona. “In the entire Hamburg area you can count the coaches in football, including the youth, on two hands,” says Karin Tries.

What the historical element of her commitment means to her can already be read from the glow that covers her entire face when she talks about it. “It’s a huge honor. I’m living a dream that I didn’t dare to dream,” she says. She is not afraid that this could turn into a nightmare if her expertise is questioned by the alpha animals in the male domain of football. “Kenneth and also our defensive coordinator Kendral Ellison made it clear to the team that my calls are just as important as theirs. If someone made a fool of me, they would react immediately.”