During negotiations, the Löwen boss sometimes pushes the stroller in front of her
Stand: 14.05.2023
Jennifer Kettemann has been in charge of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen for seven years
Source: pa/dpa/Uwe Anspach
Jennifer Kettemann is the managing director of the handball cup winner Rhein-Neckar Löwen and mother of three children. The offspring also determine their everyday office life. The double role is not always easy, admits Kettemann.
DAt first glance, Jennifer Kettemann’s office in the Rhein-Neckar Löwen office in Mannheim looks like an ordinary office for a managing director. It is only at second glance that you notice things that you would not have expected: the blue and yellow rattle toy, the small plush lion or the printed “Do not disturb” sign on the filing cabinet.
“I hang that on the door if I don’t want to be disturbed while breastfeeding,” explains Kettemann. The 41-year-old is the mother of success for the cup winners. For seven years she has been managing one of the most important handball clubs, in which stars such as the current internationals Juri Knorr, Jannik Kohlbacher, Patrick Groetzki or the four-time handball player of the year Uwe Gensheimer play.
Juri Knorr (left) is one of the key figures in the Löwen squad
Source: pa/foto2press/Oliver Zimmermann
At the same time, Kettemann is a mother of three. The older sons are twelve and nine years old, the youngest is just five months old. Her partner also has an eight-year-old son.
“You have to want that”
Extended family and managing director – no longer a problem, right? “In the economy and society, we are still far behind what it should actually be,” says Kettemann and admits: “It’s exhausting. It’s not like I’m saying: Totally easy, I recommend it to everyone. You have to want that. I wouldn’t do that for every job either. But the lions are too close to my heart for that.”
She herself is fortunate that her company has made further progress in these areas. “Two representatives from the board of directors knew before most of my friends that I was pregnant because it was out of the question for me to talk to them about a new contract and then say I’m pregnant three months later,” says the manager . “I always pay them back in my day-to-day work for the trust they placed in me. I’m glad to have such an environment.”
Your office time is divided into time for appointments that are not possible with a child and time when a baby can also be present. As in the negotiations with backspace star Ivan Martinovic, who will come from Melsungen in 2024: Kettemann pushed her baby in the stroller in front of her during the video calls.
Kettemann sees a positive trend
Even if there is still a long way to go to reconcile family and career, Kettemann sees a positive trend: “I think things are going in the right direction because many companies are giving more thought to the topic and about how they retain women in the long term. And I think it’s very important that this is also made possible in management positions, through job sharing, home office – flexible working hours are easy.” You and your partner both work part-time: “Full-time is not possible.”
Do men also need to rethink? “For one man or another, definitely. But also with some women, in the sense that dad is just as good for the child as mom,” says Kettemann. “I’ve learned that it’s also good for me to be able to just be the manager for three hours.”
This also applies to indoor games. Then the boss concentrates fully on her lions. And if a minute before the end at 24:24 in the last game of the season the child screams? Kettemann smiles: “Since the child fortunately has a super good dad, I know that he’ll be able to calm our son down for five more minutes and then I’ll go to him.”
The text was written for the sports competence center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published in BILD AM SONNTAG.
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