/ Social responsibility

Ready. Set. Future of Coaching: Space for diverse perspectives

The festival Ready. Set. Future of Coaching. rethinks soccer coaching and deliberately breaks up existing structures. This idea is also reflected in the post-event report. It is not a classic account of the event, but an individual perspective on the experience.

"It's not about me. I am still not completely free of this sentence as I stand in front of the entrance to the STATION Berlin in Kreuzberg on a Saturday morning. On this spring-like March 7, 2026, the festival Ready. Set. Future of Coaching. is taking place here. The event aims to make the perspectives of girls, women, inter*, non-binary, trans* and agender people in soccer visible and to advocate for a more gender-equitable coaching landscape.The focus is on the question of how more people can find their way into coaching - and what it takes for them to stay there, develop and be recognized.

I am part of the communications team of the Berlin Football Association and have come to work at Ready. Set. Future of Coaching. Accompanying video interviews, writing a follow-up report: these are my tasks during the festival. Even before I arrive at the event location, I'm already thinking: How do I approach my tasks? As a white, heteronormative cis man, am I even the right person for this job?

An event as a "courageous space"

I enter the high, light-flooded halls of STATION Berlin and quickly realize that this event is different from many of the events I have already experienced at the Berlin Football Association. During his check-out, BFV Vice President for Social Responsibility, Özgür Özvatan, asks the question, "Is that because this event was organized by women?" I think the answer to this question is yes. But the main reason is that the event was deliberately conceived as a "courageous space". A space that is not based on traditional structures, but breaks them down. A space that is open to all perspectives - including those that are often not loud and are not perceived by many. A space that sees this diversity as a strength.

In her welcoming keynote speech, Safa Semsary, Project Manager Ready. Set. Coach.addresses many of the issues that are going through my mind at this moment. "It's okay to be unsure. Asking questions and communicating reduces that uncertainty," she explains, adding that "change sometimes starts quietly". When she talks about stadiums not being places worth going to for many of those present and asks the audience when we realized that gender plays a role in soccer, I feel caught out. For me, stadiums are not places of insecurity and I only realized that gender plays a role much later than the many people sitting in the rows around me. Is this perhaps also about me?

Panels, workshops and football too

After the keynote, the event will continue with a strong line-up of panels. Dana Wollenhaupt (Ready. Set. Coach & SV Sparta Lichtenberg), Franziska Müller von der Ahé (glutamat Kommunikation GmbH), Rachel Etse (ethnologist, racism-critical coach with a focus on soccer) and Sam Müller (Trans-Inter-Aktiv in Mitteldeutschland e.V. - TIAM) will discuss the question of how coaches are perceived. Dina Orschmann (player at 1. FC Union Berlin), Juliana Groß (stereotype-free in sport), Elisa Lierhaus (The League Community) and Franziska Groth (Ready. Set. Coach. & SG Blau-Weiß Friedrichshain) will then talk about how soccer coaches experience their everyday lives. Alice Drouin (LSVD Verband Queere Vielfalt Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.), Dr. Asmaa El Idrissi (ROOTS - Against Racism in Sports e. V.), Fritzy Kromp (SV Werder Bremen) and Maike Neubert (Türkiyemspor Berlin) will take part in the final panel discussion on the topic of approaches to coaching. For me, the discussions moderated by Safa Semsary are a journey through different perspectives that make me reflect. We at the BFV recognize many of the hurdles, obstacles and access restrictions mentioned on an individual level. Recognizing that they are facilitated by structural mechanisms and working on structural solutions are the next steps that we as cis men in particular must take.

The three areas of access, experience and perception can also be assigned to the workshops that begin after the lunch break and explore the topics in greater depth. Parallel to this, the upper floor of the location will host Ready. Set. Kick. an inclusive training and tournament format takes place on the upper floor of the location. Here, girls, women, inter*, non-binary, trans* and agender people can play soccer, try out new things and experience community - accompanied by coaches from the Ready. Set. Coach. program, buntkicktgut, Safe Hub and Alle Kicken Mit. Theory, exchange and practice are directly intertwined at this festival.

Children play soccer in a hall; some practise on the net, others actively move around the pitch. Photo: Lea Gleisberg
On the upper floor of the location, Ready. Set. Kick. an inclusive training and tournament format. Photo: Lea Gleisberg

Reflection, attitude, action

The 100th episode of "Becker & Pfeiffer - the soccer podcast", which will be broadcast as a video on stage, the dialogic checkout by Özgür Özvatan and Safa Semsary and time for further exchange round off the festival. A day with incredibly extensive and strong input comes to an end. I learned a lot on this day and I think that is a central aspect. We have to accept that we can't know everything, that we also make mistakes. But we have to be prepared to listen, especially if we are not familiar with the other person's perspective. We have to give space to other perspectives and not block their access. Because only then can we learn and only then can we grow.

At the same time, reflection is only the first step. It must be followed by an attitude and then action, because no one can pull the levers alone to make soccer what it should be: a home for everyone. In association communication, I have such levers in shaping perception. With language - whether in text or visually - we can unite, but unfortunately also exclude. As I leave STATION BERLIN on Saturday evening, my thoughts return to the beginning: yes, this isn't about me - but that's exactly why it can't work without me.

People sit in front of a small stage where two people are in conversation; the audience is wearing green shirts with "Coach" printed on them. Photo: Lea Gleisberg
Union Berlin player Dina Orschmann (l.) in Q&A with participants of Ready. Set. Kick. Photo: Lea Gleisberg

Kategorien: Social responsibility

Alle Infos zum Programm Ready. Set. Coach.

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