Thank you for Scholarship: Soccer Adventure in Canada

Originally, Katharina Olterman of Pattensen in Lower Saxony wanted to study and play football in the United States. So she contacted an agency that had been going to the United States since 2008 for a sports scholarship with over 3,000 athletes.

But everything turned out to be a little different in the case of Katharina Olterman. The United States Becomes Canada: Shortly before being accepted to a university in the United States, Olterman received an offer from Olds College, Canada. It is in the province of Alberta, approximately 90 kilometers north of the metropolis of Calgary. So in the middle of flat land, in the prairie, but at least looking at the Rocky Mountains. Why did the woman from Lower Saxony choose Olds College in Canada? “Because it somehow reminds me of my hometown of Pattonsen,” says Katharina Olterman. “I felt good.”

The football women at Olds College refer to themselves as the “Broncos” in accordance with the rural setting and are based in the Alberta College Athletes Conference (ACAC League). The Broncos always play a good role there. In 2019/2020, Katharina Olterman made it to the All-Conference team as one of three Broncos captains. Seven goals are quite remarkable for a central defender.

Last season, the 22-year-old central defender scored seven goals with a height of 1.78m and made two assists. Olterman has become an integral part of the “Broncos” team, as he really had to cut at the start of his two-and-a-half years. Getting started wasn’t always easy and injuries plagued Talent: “It was fine when I got here. As soon as we started training, twice a day, seven days a week, it got really bad,” she says. Huh. Because he was completely unfamiliar.

“Football in Canada is very physical compared to our sport in Germany, but technically quite good”

He too had to get used to the climate. Especially in winter: “Where I come from, it’s not so cold and above all, not early in the year. Frost in September, sometimes snow. Then we had to clear our playing field first Sometimes it was very difficult to adjust to it, but I got used to it,” she reports.

Another innovation was that football is not the number one sport in Canada. “Europe is so crazy about football and everyone loves football, that’s great. In Canada, on the other hand, everyone is really excited about hockey, that is, ice hockey,” Olterman explains. “But you can feel an evolution. The importance of girls’ and women’s football is increasing. By the way, the national anthem is played before each game.” In general, one might say, “Football is very physical compared to our sport in Germany, but technically it is quite good.”

Katharina loved it in Canada. Many tours in spare time. Rockies in sight at the door. It was only a stone’s throw to Banff-Jasper National Park, with attractions like Lake Louise and the Columbia Icefield in Canadian dimensions. “Plus, the language gets better and you mature as a personality.” Katharina Olterman also considered staying long enough to develop her degree until a bachelor’s degree in sports marketing. However, it didn’t work and by the autumn in Germany it should be made for.

Till then a lot of games will be played at home. “I want to be really fit to pass admission to the sports university in Cologne.” Katrina also works in the swimming pool with her father. Fred Olterman is the Managing Director at Pattensen.

The heart depends on TSV Bemerode

Next is a license as a lifeguard. Incidentally, Papa Oltermann is also the assistant coach for the football players at TSV Bemerode. The fourth division is already fully training for the new season in the Lower Saxony Oberliga, Season B, the fourth highest division. One of six children, Katharina started playing at the age of six, as did two older brothers. First it went to the boys’ team of TSV Pattensen, later to the girls’ team. Then in TSG Ahlten’s U17, from there to TSV Bemerode and for a year in Hannover to TSV Limmer in the regional league “to test”. “But my heart is in Bemerod. We want to at least keep the class in the new season.”

Katharina Olterman also has the idea of ​​a professional future in her mind. “I want to start my own company one day, work with kids in third world countries, give them a chance to do sports and support it with education. So a kind of development aid, maybe in Africa.”