In 2006, Italian Giovanni Guidetti took over as coach of Germany from South Korean Hee Wan Lee who had been in that position since 1999. With Guidetti at the helm, the team practises up to seven hours a day – gruelling for even the most experienced professionals. Progress has been slow but steady, and after finishing 11th at the 2006 World Championship in Japan, Germany successfully qualified for the 2008 and 2009 World Grand Prix after missing the event in 2006 and 2007. Unfortunately they failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by losing the semi-final to World Champion Russia in Halle, Germany.

Since that disappointment, however, the team went from success to success. In 2009, they qualified for the 2010 World Championship, again in Japan, remaining undefeated against the Netherlands, Azerbaijan and Slovenia.

At the Grand Prix the team with captain Christiane Fürst counterbalanced the so far best ranking from 2002 with their third place and again qualified for the semi-final at the European Championship in Poland. Unfortunately, the women were defeated twice and the fantastic year could not be crested with a medal from the European Championship.

The outstanding accomplishments also reflect in the world ranking so that the DVV team is starting 2010 in 9th place – the best ranking since Guidetti took over as head coach. For 2010 the World Championship in Japan as well as the qualification for the Grand Prix are on the agenda – two very important games regarding the Olympic Games 2012 in London.

Giovanni Guidetti has been Germany’s women’s team coach since 2006. The Italian displaced former coach Hee Wan Lee, who announced his resignation, after the Bundes League’s decline for Wan Lee’s idea of part-concentrating some players.

Guidetti is only 37 years old, but is nevertheless an old hand at coaching. Already at the age of 23 he was working as coach of second league’s club Spezzano, which he guided into the First league in 1997. It was the same season that Guidetti was announced ‘coach of the year’ in Italy. Afterwards many more events in the ‘A Uno’ followed. Additionally, Guidetti worked as assistant coach for four years among the world class heads coaches Velasco and Frigoni for Italy’s women’s national team. He gained international experience while being coach of USA’s national B-team in 2002 and Bulgaria’s national team in 2003.

Guidetti, born in Modena, was already in contact with the German team before his engagement in 2006: in 1999 he coached the Italian team for one game, in which they played the German DDV team, during the qualification for the European Championship. Italy won this match in Dessau 3-0. At the World Championship in Japan in 2006 Guidetti was aiming for one of the first eight places with Germany’s women’s national team. This goal was not accomplished due to nerves and missing luck on the side of the Germans, who nevertheless played a good game. The DVV valued the performance in Japan positively and agreed on a contract for Guidetti through 2010.

At the World Championship in Japan in 2006 Guidetti was aiming for one of the first eight places with Germany’s women’s national team. This goal was not accomplished due to weak nerves and missing luck on the side of the Germans, who nevertheless played a good game. The responsible at the DVV valued the performance in Japan positively and agreed on a contract for Guidetti through 2010.

Although the team did not qualify for the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing, meticulously working Guidetti and the Federation appointed new goals for the future, the highlight being ‘London 2012’, where Guidetti definitely wants to participate with the women’s team. Therefore preparations are already being made this year. Many young players joined the squad since Guidetti already newly reformed the team this spring. Therefore the players have sufficient time to accustom to each other and prepare themselves for the Olympic Games 2012 while taking part in international tournaments. These provisions already came into practice in 2009 and were successful. The team competently won the qualification for the World Championship in Almere, the Netherlands and has consequently qualified for the World Championship 2010 in Japan. At the Grand Prix the women won the bronze medal against other world class teams with a great performance before ending fourth in the finals of the European Championship in Poland last year.