Women

"I want to develop further"

VfL winter signing Kristine Minde in a brief interview.

VfL winter signing Kristine Minde.

Since Wednesday, the women from VfL have been located at their winter training-camp in Portugal, close to the city of Faro – and the Lady-Wolves already have several intensive training sessions behind them. Due to duty with the Norwegian national team, winter signing Kristine Minde joined the Green-Whites a little later. The following morning, she then took to the training grounds, where Minde initially went through a reduced programme. Between her shifts, the 25 year old, who joined the Lady-Wolves from Linköpings FC at the beginning of December, took time out for a short interview.

Kristine Minde, can we hold this interview in German?
Kristine Minde: I’m not quite up to that yet – let’s stick to English for now (laughing). I do know quite a few German words though and I have begun to learn the language. In training, the coach always speaks in German and I understand the simpler things – my team mates help me with the rest. Once we get back from the training-camp, I’ll start a German course.

What type of player can the Lady-Wolves fans look forward to?
Kristine: That’s a good question – and not such an easy one to answer. I consider myself to be a real team player and I have played in a lot of different positions. I can play on the left or right side in defensive or offensive roles. Over the past six years, I’ve played in every imaginable position – except as a goalkeeper. I can play with either foot, I am a physically strong player and I think I am quite fast.

You’ve been training with the team since December. Has it been tough on you that you have only been able to watch the games thus far?
Kristine: That wasn’t so bad. I have a very long season in Sweden behind me. The season there ended in November and immediately after that, I transferred to Wolfsburg. It was actually really good for me to be able to start slowly. I had the opportunity to training with the team and that way I got to know the style of play.

What are your goals for the latter half of the current season?
Kristine: I want to develop further and become better integrated into the team. I hope that together, we can put in good performances in the league, the cup and in the Champions League. I can’t help out in the European games, because I already played for Linköping in the Champions League this season, but I will be cheering on the girls and keeping my fingers crossed from the stands.