As the only girl among pubescent boys
The then ten-year-old was not deterred by this. She trained with the younger ones for a while but quickly transitioned into her age group and adapted to the level. With her in the team: only boys. “Especially during puberty they were sometimes not nice at all and I often cried in the car after training. But hockey was way too much fun to stop.“There are no pure girls’ teams in ice hockey, mostly the women play with the men up to the seniors. The twins Luisa and Lilli at least had the advantage that there were two of them, while Lea had to assert herself as the only girl.
But the road was also rocky for her little sisters. “A lot of coaches didn’t see the point in us playing hockey as girls and didn’t support us. We then changed clubs very often.“It was only in Heilbronn and later in Mannheim that the sisters finally found an ice hockey home.
Dared to go abroad at the age of 15
But in Germany, sport for women as a whole is of little importance. Anyone who is not employed as a soldier in the sports promotion group of the Bundeswehr or by the police and customs does not earn any money with women’s ice hockey. On the contrary. You often have to pay for equipment and trips away yourself. Therefore, the three Welcke sisters took the bold step and spent a year in 2018 USA gone. Lea after graduating from high school Ontario Hockey AcademyLuisa and Lilli at just 15 years old high school in Kent.
There, the sisters learned that women’s hockey has much more recognition and support elsewhere. After finishing school in the USA, the twins therefore decided on a scholarship in Canada. “There are significantly more women playing ice hockey there, which means there are many more teams in a league. That makes it more exciting“, says Lilli. Lea went back to Germany in the women’s Bundesliga after the year in the USA. First she defended at ERC Ingolstadt, for two seasons for the Mad Dogs Mannheim.
Always there for each other – sometimes with criticism
Despite being thousands of kilometers apart, the three are always there for each other. With tips, with motivation and sometimes with criticism. “Of course we also have different perspectives and then we might react overemotionally to what the other says.” Lea Welcke laughs. “But that’s over after ten seconds.“The advantage of siblings, Lea, Luisa and Lilli agree: You can just be honest with each other. And you know each other like nobody else.
This also applies to the ice. While the twins pull together in attack and Lea in defense during games, there is often a “big one” in training Battle“, as Lilli says. “Lea just knows us and knows exactly how to grab us.” The big sister, who is now studying psychology in Mannheim, grins, but admits: “At the beginning I was even faster than the two of them, but those times are over now.“
The Bundesliga time together will soon be over
Even the threesomes in the Bundesliga will soon come to an end. Next season, the twins will return to Canada to study at Ridley College and play in the Junior Women’s Hockey League. Lea stays in Mannheim, where she studies psychology. But for the time being, the Welckes’ focus is on the joint playoffs, where they and the Mad Dogs Mannheim will meet ECDC Memmingen on February 26th. “Mannheim developed really well during the time we were abroad. The playoffs will definitely be exciting“Lillie says.
the playoffs find in Best of Fivemode, which was introduced this year by the German Ice Hockey Federation to professionalize women’s ice hockey. Small steps, but still. The three sisters will play in the same team at most until the final on March 26th, before they part ways again. At least for now. The Welckes have already joined the list of Williams, Klitschkos and Boes in the sports world.