Da-Hye Lee: Highspeed Career

Da-Hye Lee

Highspeed Career

“I went to play in goal because my coach asked me.” Probably only a few professional keepers can say that they once said that as a teenager and played in the first league a few years later. Da-Hye Lee did.

Story Interview Youth Free time Equipment Gallery WWC 2019

From attack to the goal

Until 2011 – when she was 18 years old – Da-Hye played out field. “Offensive, at the top or on the wing“ is how she describes the position where she felt at home in her youth. Up to this point, she had mainly dealt with goalkeepers in one-on-one duels. “Our goalkeepers left the club and we had no goalkeeper at the beginning of the season.Then my coach asked me how I would feel about going in goal for a season. I liked that so much that I just stayed in goal“.

A very good decision. Because Da-Hye is still sure about one point today: “I don’t think that I would have managed to play so high as a field player.“ But as a goalkeeper she did. Since 2018 she has been a member of the squad of the women’s Bundesliga team 1. FFC Frankfurt and was allowed to watch some of the other goalkeepers like the American Bryane “Bree” Haeberlin in the training camp in Portugal.

Saves instead of party

It all started in elementary school on the playground, “playing with the boys”. Football was the most important thing for Da-Hye during her youth, both at school and in her free time. Even as a teenager there was nothing else: “When my girlfriends left to party, I was on the sports field.” Her first club, TuS Makkabi Frankfurt, was followed by the jump to 1. FFC Frankfurt, the club to which she has remained loyal ever since – apart from one year at FSV Hessen Wetzlar – and where she has felt very comfortable.

She was once on the verge of taking a big step when she was a guest at a South Korean first division club for a week of trial training. The idea was to spend a year sniffing international football air. However, the three-year contract she was offered was too long and the numerous intensive training sessions too much determined by performance and too little by fun. So she decided on a future with the FFC.

Besides the pitch

In addition to her football career, Da-Hye studies sports, mathematics and geography at the University of Frankfurt – and even during her studies she also focus on football. She has been a constant member of the university team for many years and has been successful with the team at the German university championships and European tournaments in Portugal and Madrid.

She also holds a Trainer B licence and the DFB Goalkeeper-Performance Certificate and trains the goalkeepers of the U15 and U16 of the 1. FFC Frankfurt. She often thinks back to her first steps in goal. “My first goalkeeper training session was on the hard court. That’s when we first learned to tip over and in the end I only had bruises on my side.” The goalkeeper game she teaches the youngsters today looks more modern and professional. Da-Hye is happy when she can observe the development of the young goalkeepers. But she still has to admit one thing: “I think the little ones are better than me.“

Da-Hye Lee

#24

Date of birth

19 December 1992

Place of birth

Cologne, Germany

Current club

1. FFC Frankfurt

Glove

Supergrip Half Negative

It’s about the feel-gool factor

Female goalkeeper or just goalkeeper? “Personally, I don’t care what you call the position. I don’t feel attacked either if you don’t feminize it. That’s just the way it is.“ As far as that goes, Da-Hye is pragmatic. On the other hand, she is a little more selective with the back number: “I never wanted the 1, but 24”. That’s the number that started her career between the posts.

And her equipment? The most important thing is the feel-good factor. When choosing her gloves, Da-Hye attaches importance to a strong grip and a long durability: “I don’t need a glove that’s super one day and loses grip the next time.“ The cut is also important to her for maximum comfort. The glove must fit tightly and should be finished with an inner seam. Da-Hye does not need support frames.

She is very satisfied with her uhlsport gloves in this respect. She has recently started playing with the new Radar Control Supergrip HN, which is also visually appealing to 26-year-old. Depending on the weather, she also uses the Aqua Grip HN. With five training sessions a week, Da-Hye needs six to eight pairs of gloves in a season – depending on how carefully she handles them.

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Germany or South Korea? Both!

Da-Hye is following the Women’s World Cup in France at least as closely as the Men’s World Cup. She watches the games of Germany and South Korea live, because this is where she has her roots. Should the two nations meet – as at the 2018 Men’s World Cup – she is more diplomatic and sticks to the team “that needs it more”.

When asked which team in her eyes has the best goalkeeper of the current tournament in the squad, Da-Hye answers without hesitation: “Germany of course! It has always been the case that Germany brings out the best goalkeepers. I think that’s also the case with the women.” Her sporting role model, Hope Solo, no longer plays actively for the national team of the USA. But even without the fast reacting and athletic star player, Da-Hye counts the US-Americans among the favorites at the World Cup. In addition, Japan and France with goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi should be on the list. She is not primarily interested in what the goalkeepers wear, but if she likes a glove it would be a good reason to take a closer look at it or buy it.

Within just a few years, Da-Hye has made it from a passable attacker to a talented Bundesliga goalkeeper – a career in the fast lane, so to speak. She says she is not explicitly proud of this development. She just wants to “have good training, experience the high level and professionalism and improve me.“

Da-Hye will continue to pursue this vision as a goalkeeper, because one thing is certain: she won’t go back to her striker position, because the goalkeeper game has too much advantage for that, as she reveals with a twinkle in her eye: “You don’t have to run so much”.

Da-Hye Lee: Highspeed Career

Da-Hye Lee

Highspeed Career

From attack to the goal

Saves instead of party

Besides the pitch

Da-Hye Lee

It’s about the feel-gool factor

Germany or South Korea? Both!

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