From skip to coach – Germany’s Jentsch returns to the ice

Daniela Jentsch can be regarded as one of the most consistent skips of the past decade – and her retirement in 2023 left a spectacle-shaped gap on the women’s international circuit.

At just 18 years old, she was part of the German national team that competed at the 2000 World Women’s Curling Championship. Her return to the event came in 2015, after years of challenging more-experienced skips in Andrea Schopp and Natalie Nesser for the top brass.

Following the 2015 championship, it was the start of eight years of being the face of German curling, flanked by her own rink that included her sister Analena.

After several close calls, Jentsch finally tasted medal glory at the age of 36 when Germany won bronze at the 2018 European Curling Championships in Tallinn, repeating the feat three years later in Lillehammer. Finally, Daniela and Analena chose to hang up their brooms for the last time, last year.

“I’ve never really regretted that decision,” said Jentsch.

“It was tough in one way because a curling season gives you a lot of structure and you have those set dates that you’re working towards and everything.

“I’m a person that is very structured and I like routines so I was a little bit scared about retiring and not knowing what’s next.”

New coaching opportunity

What was next came very quickly. Expecting to fill her free time with her two ice hockey-obsessed sons, Jentsch noticed someone had slid into her DMs when checking her spam folder – members of Curling Austria.

“The team sent me a message through Instagram and it was really a coincidence that I looked at that,” she added.

“They were lucky because they didn’t expect an answer anyway, they thought I would never even reply.

“I told them I will just try until the Europeans [Championships] last year and then I will think about it again because I don’t want to work in an environment where if I’m not enjoying it, then I’m not effective anymore.

“They would waste money and time in keeping me so I was very honest with them and they accepted that and I’m still there now.”

The offer was a promising project – coach the national women’s and junior teams, while supporting the work of the World Mixed Curling Championships rink. Austria, a nation that is still seeking consistent A-Divisions at European Championships, was the right place for her to cut her teeth.

Dipping her toes in

“I didn’t want that pressure in the beginning,” she said.

“I thought this is an opportunity for me to see it if I’m good at it, if I enjoy it and if I’m the right fit because I have a little bit of a different philosophy than other coaches.”

Jentsch had started a diploma in sports science and training science in 2020 and graduated in July 2023, two months after retiring. By August, she was working with Curling Austria and splitting her time between her hometown of Fussen and the Austrian set-up in Kitzbuhel, promising that quality time with her children while remaining active in the sport.

Jentsch’s team was effectively self-coached during her playing days, setting her up well for the move to the bench, saying it “wasn’t really a huge transition”

After working informally until February this year, a contract was written up, committing the German to the national teams. While she coaches the women’s and junior programmes, the mixed team is actually quite familiar to her. Johanna Hoess and Jill Witschen compete on the women’s team and are to feature in the mixed team alongside one of her junior athletes, Moritz Joechl. Only skip Johann Karg has yet to be acquainted with the coach at an international competition.

Unique approach to coaching

While it is natural for coaching philosophies to take their time to work, Jentsch has been confident of how the players are adapting.

“In this situation this really works because they weren’t used to anything in particular so everything that I’m giving them seems to work which makes my job really easy right now.

“In federations where there is a structure already I think it would be more of a challenge for me to adapt that, but in Austria it’s mostly I’m alone for my programme so I can basically do and try whatever I want and right now everything that I do works out fine.”

Favouring an analytical, scientific approach, there is time for tactics to be tweaked and experience to be gained on the bench and with that, improvements for a team yet to make the playoffs at the World Mixed Curling Championships in their history.

“For Austria it will always be a challenge to qualify for playoffs but I think this young team if they really get together during that week they have a chance,” said Jentsch confidently.

“I always tell them that they should just gain experience so even if the week is not going what they’re expecting then it’s still a success because they will gain experience that no one can take away from them.

“It is a privilege to play at an international event and they should see it as a privilege.”

And that privilege extends to Jentsch, who has a loving family, a promising young Austrian curling team and a blossoming coaching career – and all of it is within a three-hour car journey.

Written by: World Curling journalist Michael Houston