Hello Ms. Deniz. Can you tell us a little about your football and coaching experiences?
I have a 10-year football history. Girls' football stories are generally the same, playing with boys on the street. That's how my adventure started. During this 10-year adventure, I experienced sadness, joy, happiness, beautiful experiences and championships. There were some difficulties due to me being the oldest in the team and my experience. Your task was a little more than that. Overcoming it all was difficult but gratifying. As you know, girls are more emotional.
My coaching experience dates back to 4 years. My biggest chance right now is that I work with Baki Çiftci. He has contributed a lot to me with his football knowledge and experience. Coaching is a very different field. Of course, managing a team, keeping it under control, and building a successful team is more difficult. But despite all the difficulties, I love football and being involved in football.
What is the aspect of football that excites you most?
Even seeing girls playing football outside makes me excited. It is a pleasure to educate talented girls and see their development.
What do you think makes a great football player?
In my opinion, a good football player is someone who is disciplined, helpful, perfectionist, hard-working, and at the same time respectful, constructive and selfless as an athlete.
What do you consider when developing a game plan?
I make plans by looking at the quality of the player group.
What do you want to achieve with your team?
To create a quality infrastructure in the Gençlerbirliği team, and to aim for the championship in every category in every age group systematically in the college team and family environment.
How did you choose Gençlerbirliği?
Gençlerbirliği is a very nice club. I joined this beautiful community with the offer made by Erdem Göktürk, who has been in the women's football community for many years.
Can you tell us about the fun and difficult aspects of your job?
The fun part of our job is the time we spend with our little girls, and the greatest joy is seeing that we are rewarded for our work. The difficult part is that the work we do is stressful.
To what extent does Gençlerbirliği Club attach importance and support to the development of the Women's Football Team?
Erdem Göktürk, especially our president Mr. Niyazi Akdaş, provides great support. In fact, Gençlerbirliği community is the club that provides the most support to Turkish football in terms of infrastructure.
How do you deal with pressure as a football coach when you face many expectations from players, spectators, parents (if you coach children) and other stakeholders?
We are already in constant communication with our children's families. This makes our job even easier. We can find solutions to problems more easily.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a woman run the Women's Team?
As a woman, I can better understand the feelings they experience. Sometimes I approach you with the compassion of a sister or a mother. I have not experienced anything negative as a disadvantage, but there are definitely some people who think that a woman does not have better football knowledge than a man.
Can you tell us about the weekly training program of Gençlerbirliği Women's Football Team?
We train 3 or 4 days a week. Of course, it varies depending on the match schedule and the children's class schedule.
What do you pay attention to while preparing for matches, what is your source of motivation?
We prepare by researching the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors. We motivate our athletes by keeping them together and talking about our opponent's shortcomings.
