Ahen the football players of FSV Frankfurt and Michelle Hürzeler met for the first time this summer in the stadium on Bornheimer Hang, it counted for the men from the Regionalliga Südwest. The 23-year-old sports scientist monitored the team’s weighing. At this point in time, the players did not know in which role Michelle Hürzeler was working. Only then did head trainer Thomas Brendel introduce the former competitive judo athlete to his team as the new athletic trainer. As of this season, Michelle Hürzeler is the first woman in Germany to hold this post in men’s football at a professional club. In the area she is responsible for, the players dance to their tune.
Of course, in the beginning there were “a lot of prejudices,” says Brendel. “She’s only 23. What do we want with a boy like that?” Was one. His players were “a bit reserved”. But that “subsided after a few days” because they noticed “that Michelle is fully committed to her work and takes care of it,” reports Brendel.
Michelle Hürzeler
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Image: Imago
Michelle Hürzeler did not escape the “skepticism among the boys”. “However, they were very respectful from the start and made it easier for me to get started in the sense that they gave me a chance.” The native of Freiburg, who moved from Munich to Frankfurt because of her new role, has to smile when she opens the weighing of the team looks back. “That was funny. There were a few surprised looks. Because the boys didn’t know exactly how to assign me. ”Brendel had kept the personnel to himself until the“ day of the announcement ”. “I didn’t want people to talk or speculate about it for days.”
Asserted against three competitors
Michelle Hürzeler prevailed against three male competitors. One of them had worked for the American Football Club Frankfurt Universe, another had already gained experience in the second handball league. But Brendel was most convinced by the multiple European Cup winner in judo, who had to end her career early with many national medals after 16 years of competitive sport after a disc operation.
The former judo fighter of TSV München Großhadern never let herself be discouraged. She meticulously built up a professional foothold. Before moving to Frankfurt, Michelle Hürzeler worked in the fitness studio – this is how she came into contact with the FSV – and was also involved in judo and golf clubs. She was also a sports teacher in kindergarten. Not to forget her job as a personal trainer. “It quickly became clear to Michelle that she fulfilled all of the points that are important to us. We wanted someone who was one hundred percent with the FSV. She really wanted the job, ”says Brendel.
“Tough, but still easy”
Michelle Hürzeler accepted immediately. She knows what she is getting into, because she is not naive. “Of course you have your doubts. And of course I still have them. ”However, she approaches this with the attitude that“ obstacles can be removed if they arise. If there are stones in my way, I will overcome them ”- that is her motto. Michelle Hürzeler describes herself as “straightforward. I’m not that fancy girl-like. I’m tough, but easy going anyway. “
Brendel has come to appreciate his new employee in the coaching staff as an “absolute believer” through her hard work. “She is here from morning to evening and knows how to deal with the players. She pulls them in, demands something and can sometimes be loud, ”says the trainer. “Michelle is not that quiet little mouse.” Under her guidance, the players now wear tracking straps that are equipped with a GPS device. Individual data such as mileage and sprint speeds can be determined in this way. “We are three steps further than last year,” says Brendel. In terms of athletics, the FSV is “not yet one of the top teams” in the Regionalliga Südwest, says Michelle Hürzeler, who came to Frankfurt two weeks before the end of the season preparation. “We still lack liveliness, acceleration and agility. But the guys got a lot out of it. I am very proud of her, ”says Michelle Hürzeler.
She always had a “heart for football”. She chased the ball in her spare time. Her brother Fabian is an assistant coach at FC St. Pauli. Michelle Hürzeler takes advice from him when she needs him. In order to continue her education, she reads a lot of books. Your ideas for improving things never run out. Brendel suggested they put the players on home trainers after substitutions. “It’s more effective because of the regeneration,” she says. She only encounters prejudices when the FSV has away games and the majority of her opponents initially classify her as a physiotherapist. As an athletic trainer, Michelle Hürzeler wants to work in the men’s Bundesliga at some point. This is your dream. She had to give up another one for health reasons: that of the Olympic champion in judo.
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