Mesch moves to jena: “time to say goodbye”
She’s taking a big step: hannah mesch, the region’s most talented women’s soccer player, is moving from FC coburg to FF USV jena in the B-junior bundesliga for the second half of the season. The exceptional gymnast, who has just turned 15, is thus consistently pursuing her major sporting goal.
"I definitely want to play in the women’s national league one day. Maybe the national team is also possible", says hannah, who grew up in the drossenhausen suburb of meede, with healthy self-confidence, which she has every reason to have as an U15 national player.
Of course, it was not yet foreseeable that she would one day go out into the world of soccer when she first laced up her soccer shoes at TSV meeder at the age of four. But her talent could not be overlooked early on when she whirled through the opposing, mostly boys’, defensive lines and caused the opposing coaches a lot of headaches.
In 2014, hannah moved to the FC coburg junior training center, where her soccer career really took off: training four times a week with talented boys of the same age, hannah learned to hold her own in soccer, even at a high level. She was called up to the regional selection for northern bavaria, the U14 and U16 bavarian selections (which she helped win the DFB national cup in 2018) and the U15 national team.
Mesch has spent the last year and a half scoring goals for her FCC in the U15 northern bavarian league. She has already scored nine goals this season. This is all the more remarkable because she is a "december child" among the youngest of the class of 2004. It’s no coincidence that anne pochert, the coach of jena, has had her on her wish list for a long time.
Bundesliga in jena
So now bundesliga with jena: from the 17. February – the start of the second half of the school year – she will be living and studying at the state sports high school johann christoph friedrich guts-muths in jena, a renowned sports boarding school just five minutes by bike from the FF USV jena training ground.
"Simply awesome!"
"Everything there is geared to fubball, there are no long distances", hannah reports enthusiastically. Of course, she took a close look at her new environment together with her parents sandra and marco mesch, and hannah’s overall conclusion is clear: "simply great!"
In addition to playing soccer, hannah, who currently attends the CO II secondary school, is also focusing on her school career: "I definitely want to go to high school, says hannah, and feels that she will be in good hands with the internat coaches in the future.
Double against vfl wolfsburg
In terms of soccer, she has already arrived in jena in perfect form. At the unofficial german B-junior indoor championships in gutersloh, she finished a good eighth out of 20 teams with jena, and hannah immediately scored a brace in the 3:0 opening win against the reigning german U17 champions vfl wolfsburg.
And in her first test match outdoors against a young team, she scored the 4:3 winner. She has already shown her flair for scoring goals at a new venue, which she now wants to prove in the U17 national league, in women’s soccer’s oldest junior division.
On 29. February sees the start of the rucking season at spvg aurich in east frisia. Aurich currently occupies the first relegation spot, jena is three points ahead, so it’s a final game. "We are by far the youngest team in the league; not one of our players is born in 2003, hannah appreciates the sporting challenge and already has an idea of the next stage of her development:
"I hope that I can play maybe already 2021 in the U21 of jena." Currently very successful in the regional league northeast, the third-highest women’s league. And of course, the first team, which is currently fighting against relegation in the women’s national league, will attract her.
Despite all her ambition, hannah found it hard to say goodbye to her vestekickers, with whom she had played four international tournaments as well as countless training sessions and games. And "her boys said an appropriate "goodbye" to her at the VR-bank junior soccer cup, where hannah once again shone for the FCC’s U15 team.
With tears in her eyes
When hannah played "time to say goodbye running through the FCC-salier of the years 2004 and 2005 and receiving the jersey with the number nine as a present from the coburg NLZ-director matthias christl, it was obvious that she was very calm in front of the opponent’s goal.
Christl: "for us, hannah’s change is of course a bitter loss: athletically, her departure rubs a big hole in the U15, and humanly, we will miss her tremendously with her immensely friendly nature. But we are very happy with her and are convinced that she will make her way."
Hannah accepts the new challenge with her own optimism: "i’m actually going to jena with a lot of confidence, and i’m really looking forward to being there with the girls for the whole week." At the boarding school, she will share a room with a teammate, and the days filled with school, training and games will leave no time for homesickness.
The proud parents are
Her parents, who fully support hannah’s path, will, if possible, continue to attend the games as fans. According to sandra mesch, the first plans are already in place: "we will travel to aurich the day before and spend the night there." And when hannah leaves for a "home leave" after the saturday bundesliga matches when she returns to coburg, her FCC boys can count on her moral support on the sidelines.
