Greenville, Pennsylvania is hardly a renowned international destination. However, Rainer Kuepper chose this rural Mercer Country community as his primary destination for his first trip to the states.
The reason is as American as apple pie – football.
Kuepper is the head coach of the Neuss Frogs and an assistant with a youth team nicknamed the Mavericks. He wound up in Greenville – and Thiel College in particular – in order to observe the game as it is taught and coached in the U.S.
Kuepper came in contact with the Thiel football program and head coach Kurt Reiser through John Falk, an Allegheny College graduate who played for then-defensive coach and current Thiel athletic director Jack Leipheimer. Falk now teaches math in Germany and serves as the Frogs’ defensive coordinator.
According to Kuepper, the goals of his visit were to “learn more about organization of practices, game tactics, and the fundamentals.”
In America, he continued, “the fundamentals taught here are more detailed” than those administered in Europe, mainly because most of his roster is learning about the sport for the first time.
“American football is [as popular as] in Germany as soccer is here,” said Kuepper.
The Mavericks, which has a roster made up of boys ages 14-18, is an established team, having recorded an undefeated season last year. The Frogs, which began play this past May, are comprised of 20 to 30 women who range in age from 16 to 28. Both are club teams, which mean its players are there for the fun of it.
German teams train all season long, compared to American college football teams which confine the bulk of their training regimens to a few weeks prior to the start of the season. The teams’ season spans from April to September and concludes with bowl games.
Club teams are divided into six divisions. With a strong season, teams can advance to a higher division. The ultimate goal for each team is to rise to the first division to play for the championship.
Despite the differences in how the game is played and coached in Germany and at Thiel, there are also many similarities starting with a shared appreciation between Kuepper and Reiser.
“It’s been really good to have Rainer in camp,” said Reiser. “It’s a great experience for our guys to interact with him and it’s been a great learning experience for Rainer.”
Kuepper echoed his American counterpart’s sentiments.
“I like Thiel very much,” he said. “I’m very comfortable here and I have learned a lot. I’ve had a chance to have a lot of my questions answered.”
The learning experience hasn’t been one-sided, either. Reiser has benefited from Kuepper’s perspective “as an outside observer. “
“As much as he’s come here to learn from us,” Reiser continued, “he’s had some good ideas for improving some of the ways we do things.”
As Kuepper’s time at Thiel College comes to a close and the preseason yields to the 2009 campaign, two football programs, thousands of miles apart have benefited from a simple visit to the small Pennsylvania town of Greenville.
And while the story of the 2009 campaign is yet to be played out – and the inevitable highs and lows of a football season are still in store to savor and to overcome – Kuepper makes departing prediction.
“I will have a good season,” he said with a confident smile.
‘A good season’ to follow a memorable preseason.