Florian Naumann

Florian’s bio

Childhood:

The words of wisdom passed down from my Grandmother have been a constant companion throughout my life. “If I have enough bread, butter and water, there is nothing to complain about.” My Grandmother taught me the value of living in the present, being grateful and thankful for what we have and to appreciate what life has to offer us.

Live in the now!

I was born right after the fall of the Berlin wall. My mother told me that I was born with a smile on my face and this is still who I am today. I grew up in the eastern part of Germany and was influenced a lot by our Germany history and culture. My parents raised me in a community whose values were based on harmony and support. They decided to take different paths and at the tender age of 4 my parents got divorced. My mother, my brother and I moved to small village with about 500 inhabitants. Despite the new constellation my parents continued to play an important part in my life. 

I was very fortunate that I inherited the sport gene from both my parents. At 6, I started playing soccer like many other young boys in our community. I remember fondly that we had this cheap soccer ball and in our free time my brother and I would run around and play a lot on the village turf. With the support of my brother, he helped me to develop my skills as a Goalkeeper. To be honest, I was not the best player on the field until I found my passion to back up the team with my skills as a Goalie.

Sports Career – Soccer: 

My career in football began when the only Goalkeeper of our team was sick just before a tournament. I asked my coach if I could show him my skills. He agreed and I was awarded as best Goalie in the tournament. I never would have dreamed of what the following years would bring.  

We moved back to my hometown of Schwerin where I started to practice with the second best team in the state. The team spirit was amazing and we were able to compete with the professional Bundesliga club of the state. After winning medals and championships as well as trophies as the best Goalie I was finally nominated to play in the state selection team. My highest personal award was the DFB camp side by side with the world champion and famous Toni Kroos in my team.

Two years later my successful career came to an end. Team bond and team spirit have always been the highest values for me in sports. Sadly, egoism divided our successful team into a group of individuals. Not many people understood my decision to end a successful career. However, I knew it was the right thing to do.

Sports Career – Handball:

After soccer a new passion arose - Handball. After 3 years of successfully playing handball as well as the completion of my A-levels at the Elite School of Sports, my club offered me a player’s contract that was handed out by the former national team and world champion coach Heiner Brand. Although I’ve felt very honoured I decided to turn down the offer and moved to Hamburg to focus on my business career. 

From 2011 to 2018 I combined my love of sports and played Handball in the winter and “Footy” in the summer. I reached my personal goal to play in the 3rd division of Handball and then decided to retire as an active Handball player in 2018 and focus more on the development of Australian Football. Little did I realise that this chapter of Handball was not over yet and that new doors would open up. One year after my official career end I was fortunate to be reactived for my dream – playing in the 3rd division in front of 1300 spectators against my hometown where my career started 14 years before.

In 2018 I became the Senior Coach of a women’s Handball team. After being a coach until 2021 for 3 different teams and as a licensed DOSB Coach (German Olympic Sports Confederation) I proudly look back and left every team on a higher table position than the season before.

Sports Career – Australian Football:

I first got in touch with the toughest kind of football in 2006 and this awoke my curiosity and later on my passion for this sport. As a teenager in the age of 16, I was fortunate enough to spend 9 weeks in Australia on a school exchange program to explore the other side of the world. My host family took me a couple of times probably to the most challenging sports I have ever seen. 5 years after my return to Germany I found out that there is an AFL league in Germany. In 2011 I went to my first training session in Hamburg followed by my first official game just 3 days later. Two years after my new career started, I scored my first goal in the national team, followed by 4 German championships, 2x MVP in the league Grand Final, 1x Team of the Tournament at Champions League, 2x bronze medalist in the European Championships, 4x European Team of the Tournament, 2nd place in the World Championships in Australia. From 2016 on I’ve been the captain of the national team Germany. My success was only possible from the skills, knowledge and experience gained from my former sport careers in Soccer and Handball.

However, the biggest success is to become a part of the worldwide “Footy Family“, an incomparable community based on respect, diversity, support and camaraderie. Besides being a player, I was able to experience the position of a sports coach for Australian Football. I developed and built up the women’s division in Germany and became the Head Coach of the German national team. In the same year I joined the league Committee and became the Club’s Vice President.

Business Career:

Sport has always been a big part of my life and will always be, however, at the age of 18 it was time to start my business career.

I moved to Hamburg, Germany und completed my commercial training in the city’s biggest owned real estate business SAGA GWG (today: SAGA Unternehmensgruppe). During this time, I became the representative for all the 40 trainees und reported directly to the board und HR. After more than three years at SAGA I decided to face a new challenge in a start-up company und built up a real estate company for 2,5 years. In 2014 I switched my office to a medium-sized company und I furthered my field of expertise und graduated with a Bachelor of real estate in 2016. 

At the end of the same year a mutual friend introduced me to C12K. The Founder David explained to me the philosophy and motivation of his company. A new passion arrived in my business life, so I started and completed my C12K Coaching license within one year.

Today I am the Company Director at C12K and work as a Team, Communication und Motivation Expert. In addition, I also continue to work as an entrepreneur and consultant in the real estate business. Since 2021 I am the Senior Managing Partner of Gerd Mulsow & Co. GmbH. With a team of 5 experts this company manages real estates in the northern of Germany. In this position I am able to integrate my philosophy and experience to develop the successful future of this company.

Sport has played a major influence in my life and has shaped me into the person I have become today. Moreover sport has shown me the importance of the management of the ME and US as well as their essential values and daily challenges. Personally I believe in the power and impact of positivity, motivation, passion and the associated power of self-empowerment.

Over the years I learnt the importance of loyalty, gratitude and thankfulness towards all the people who I have encountered and who have shared with me their values. On that base I was able to discover and develop my own identity and values. C12K gave me the opportunity to find my own power and to activate it. Being part of a fantastic team I am proud to be able to help other people activating their power of identity.