"Dittelbrunnmerika"

Dave Marino-Nachison · Dec 12, 2011

Here's a feature about a German club's youth team that is half-American.

Dittelbrunner US-Boys: Grundkurs in Fußball und Vereinsleben

http://www.mainpost.de/sport/Schwei...s-in-Fussball-und-Vereinsleben;art795,6495933

It looks like story that might deserve better than a Google translation, if anyone's up to it.

Here's the club web site:

http://www.sg-dittelbrunn.de/

Alex_K · Dec 12, 2011

Translation of the first half, rest later:

Shortly before the final whistle, after Sand's defender misses the ball, Philipp Schmucker is there and cooly uses his chance - goal for the SG Dittelbrunn 2. His team, and also the coaches and parents, celebrate the scorer enthusiastically. It seems as if Dittelbrunn's second team achieved something big, maybe they even won against the second placed team in the U-17 league III of Schweinfurt, FC Sand. That's what the undiscerning spectator could think looking onto the main field of Sand's sporting ground after their sunday morning pint.

But the SG didn't win. They have never won a game, are dead last with all of 0 points. The goal Dittelbrun's Schmucker scored was his 3rd, the team's fifth this season in total after 12 games, with 120 goals against. It was the goal that made the final score 1:7. But the team and their environment don't care about the dire standings. "We celebrate every single goal like a victory", coach Joachim Müller says.

Because "Joe" knows it well: this U-17 squad is no team like everyone else. At SG Dittelbrunn 2 the common language is English, half of the boys are US-citizens, their parents are part of the American Community in Schweinfurt. The assistant coach Phil Rigdon, a history teacher, is also an American.
Click to expand...

Dave Marino-Nachison · Dec 12, 2011

Thanks (and rep) to you...

Alex_K · Dec 12, 2011

Thanks. Here's a second part, I will do a third (and final) a bit later.

"We know that we won't win a game this season", Rigdon says. "Maybe next year. German Fußball and American soccer, those are two very different things." The 6 American kids have a feel for the ball, but they have no clue about the technical side or tactics. Müller adds with a grin: "They can run with the ball, but we have to teach them how to get it into the goal". The other teams are also physically superior and have played togather for years: "We still have some 13 and 14 year olds on our team".

Soccer is still a niche sport in the US, "although it's getting more popular", Rigdon explains. "I'm fascinated by the constant switches between atacking and defending, always fighting for the ball". The teacher would also love to coach the soccer programm of the new American high school in Schweinfurt, but he doesn't believe he will get the job. "And anyway, Dittelbrunn has top priority. That's were my heart lies."

"The boys will remember this time for the rest of their life".
Click to expand...

El Niño Orgulloso · Dec 12, 2011

"the team's fifth this season in total after 12 games, with 120 goals against."

So their average score is 0.4 to 10. They must feel like crap after every game.

Alex_K · Dec 12, 2011

The final part, there it starts to read a bit like the pitch for a Disney sports movie .

That a half American team plays in a German sports club, that's probably a first. The contact was made through the player Ben Atkins, who goes to a German school, already played for Dittelbrunn and had a few buddies who wanted to play "real" soccer. At the High School this sport is only offered in spring, and there are few matches, often against other far away American schools. "There was an awful lot of paper work with the Bavarian FA", Müller remembers, "they were afraid that in the future clubs would attempt to get foreign players onto their team for money". But in the end the FA was convinced that Dittelbrunn just wabted to play the game. "For our German kids it was good news to get some reinforcements, this allowed us to establish a second team".

The Americans now experience German club life for the first time - in the US their are basically no amateur multi sports clubs. "Here we have the chance to bring two nations together", coach Rigdon says, "The boys will remember this time for the rest of their life". And they also profit from this. Within the team the language is almost exclusively English, with improves the grades of the German kids. Especially as Germans and Americans have also become friends outside of the soccer field. The US boys may have even more advantages from the Dittelsbrunn experiment. "When they return home, they will have gotten a good basic soccer education", the American SG coach knows, "there are colleges and universities in the US that offer soccer scholarships, there they will have an advantage", Without scholarships many couldn't afford the expensive education.

That's why Rigdon would like to get more American kids to Dittelbrun and is preaching to the choir with Müller - "They could start in the younger teams, we already have some in our U-9 squad". The problem is only to get some continuity, as many parents are relocated after 2 or 3 years by the Army.

But the cooperation is supposed to be continued and if possible broadened. Americans and Germans have grown into a real team at the SG Dittelbrunn 2. The mood is great, despite all the heavy defeats they get every sunday. The team is taking it sporting. "We get a lot of encouragement and respect from our opponents", Müller reports, "they always say they'd like to see their teams play us in {American] football, to see how it is to lose heavily in a completely foreign sport." But in Dittelsburn they just celebrate their rare goals. And a bit themselves. Because they are winners, despite the league standings - that both Americans and Germans already know.
Click to expand...

sakibomb523 · Dec 12, 2011

Good story, thanks for the translation

Gorky · Dec 12, 2011

Alex_K said: ↑

Translation of the first half, rest later:
Click to expand...

It seems as if Dittelbrunn's second team achieved something big, maybe they even won against the second placed team in the U-17 league III of Schweinfurt, FC Sand. That's what the undiscerning spectator could think looking onto the main field of Sand's sporting ground after their sunday morning pint.
Click to expand...

Ah Germany...

Thanks for the translation

xbhaskarx · Dec 12, 2011

El Niño Orgulloso said: ↑

"the team's fifth this season in total after 12 games, with 120 goals against."

So their average score is 0.4 to 10. They must feel like crap after every game.
Click to expand...

Ouch.
They need to hire Thomas Rongen!

SeaOtter · Dec 13, 2011

xbhaskarx said: ↑

Ouch.
They need to hire Thomas Rongen!
Click to expand...

Nah. He'd just wind up being blamed for losing some kid who moved off to Mainz and became the next big thing.

onfirst · Dec 13, 2011

Its not uncommon for local clubs in Germany/Italy/Netherlands/Belgium near an american base to have several american players on its roster. Whats unique in this story is teams positive outlook on the life experience in spite of its futility.

Alex_K · Dec 13, 2011

Btw, here's the table:
http://ergebnisdienst.fussball.de/t.../spieljahr1112/bayern/M31S1112W315687Atabelle

It's the 8th division of the U-17 league pyramid.