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***image1***She may never gain the exposure and success of Eric Lindros, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux or the handful of National Hockey League legendary players who stood out as teenagers playing hockey in North America.
But that’s not a problem.
The chance of someday competing in the Olympics will do just fine for the 13-year-old daughter of a 21st Theater Support Command officer, who already is passing pucks to professional women’s hockey elite right here on Germany’s rinks. And, besides, the NHL is for men.
Tina Cline, the daughter of Col. Richard Cline, 21st TSC comptroller, plays for the four-time defending “Bundesliga” women’s hockey champions. Cline is the youngest competitor on a team that features as many as six players who could be playing for Germany in the 2006 Olympics. It’s a stat that doesn’t seem to mesmerize, overwhelm or faze Cline the very least.
She’s way too busy having fun.
“I love the skating and meeting people and making friends,” she said.
Cline plays for the Kornwestheim Lady Kodiaks, which belongs to the Bundesliga South and comprises mainly women in their late teens and early 20s. Members of the Lady Kodiaks travel on weekends from all parts of Germany to compete for the all-star peppered team based in the Stuttgart suburb.
In other words, they’re ringers, as their 7-0-2 record might indicate.
“They are older than me. They play better hockey than me, but I can learn a lot. They treat me really nice,” Cline said in humble praise of her teammates. “They support me. If I do something wrong, they don’t yell at me. They just show me how to do it right.”
Cline said she has already played every position for the Lady Kodiaks, except for goalie, but prefers to stay at her current position as a left winger.
“Defense is really tough. And I do not want to play goalie.”
So far this season, she has one goal and two assists.
Cline certainly has the time to practice what the team’s veterans have taught her. On an average, she plays two games a weekend, competes for four other teams and practices three nights a week.
“It’s all hockey, all the time,” Colonel Cline said.
She has been playing hockey since she was four years old when she began playing roller hockey on the abandoned tennis courts at Fort Hood, Texas, said Colonel Cline.
She traded her rollerblades for ice skates after moving to Minneapolis. She played two seasons there with a youth hockey team.
In 1998, when another PCS sent her to Kaiserslautern, Cline joined the Turnverein Kornwestheim Sports Club, where she played five years of mixed competition.
Cline’s mother is a German national, which affords her dual-citizenship and also allows the Kodiaks to benefit from her talents free of charge. Most of the other players on the Kodiaks are paid. But that doesn’t bother her, she said. She is doing what she likes to do best, while at the same time is working toward her goal of goals.
“I would like to make it to the Olympics,” she said.
Peter Kuerten, the Kodiaks coach, was quick to praise Cline for her strong work ethic and her steady development as a player, but stopped short of saying she is ready to skate right onto the international ice hockey stage.
“Tina has been here for four years,” Mr. Kuerten said. “And because of her hard work, she is getting better and better. Tina works very hard. Is it possible to make it to the Olympics? Why not?”
