Jenny Naruhn, Svetlana Hess, Tilla Dier and Lisa Kropp became the first "sport soldiers" in the Army, which provides high-performance development for a select few male and female athletes from different sports.

The Olympic Centre works in conjunction with the Cologne Sport University.

The number of contracted players increased to eight in 2013, with Steffi Gruber, Laryssa Stone, Alysha Stone, Julia Peters, and Vivian Bahlmann joining Hess, Kropp, and Nahrun.

Weidemann resigned and was replaced by Australian Michael Hooke, while South African Melvine Smith became the U18 coach.

But Smith managed to build on Weidemann's past work to take the U18 squad to a third place in the 2nd European Sevens Championships.