Talent development
Spotting talent: what a girls' goalkeeper camp has to do with headhunting
Why we organise a goalkeeper camp just for girls, and what talent spotting in football has in common with my work as a headhunter.
This weekend, on 10 and 11 October 2026, only female goalkeepers will be on the pitch at FT Starnberg 09. She Keeps The Game is our first camp exclusively for girls and young women, from U13 to U23. I am organising it together with goalkeeper coach Tom Deppisch and Magdalena Richter, who was trained at FC Bayern.
The question I hear most often about it: why only girls?
Why girls only
Not because girls are less capable. But because in an all-female environment they often learn more confidently, speak up more and stay in sport longer. In their teens, significantly more girls than boys give up club sport. Anyone who wants to change that needs places where they dare to try, and role models who show that it can be done.
A goalkeeper has to be loud. She directs the defence, gives commands and decides in seconds. Many girls find exactly that easier to practise when nobody is standing next to them in front of whom they hold back.
What this has to do with my profession
In my main job I am a headhunter. I look for people for roles in which they can grow. I came to football through my two sons, more or less by chance. Only on the sidelines did I notice how similar the two worlds are.
Four parallels
Scouting is talent search. A scout and a headhunter ask the same question: what can this person do today, and what can they become? The CV and the statistics only show the past.
Potential shows under pressure. In a selection interview, as in a one-on-one, you see how someone deals with a situation that does not go to plan. Technique can be trained; attitude is much harder.
The environment decides. The best candidate fails in the wrong company, the greatest talent in the wrong club. That is why my work is never just finding, but bringing together: person and place have to fit.
Those who are not seen are not found. In companies, good people remain undiscovered because they are quiet. In girls' football it is similar: there are fewer trials and fewer stages. That is why we specifically invite scouts and talent-identification coaches to our camps.
What I take away from it
Talent is everywhere. What is often missing is someone who looks, and a setting in which it is allowed to show itself. That applies to a thirteen-year-old in goal just as much as to a manager before the next step.
With She Keeps The Game we are building this setting for young female goalkeepers. And on every camp day I notice that in football I do the same as in my profession: seeing people before others do.