Maria Grohs: "Goalkeeping, it's all about mental focus."
German goalkeeper talks about rising through the ranks at Bayern, dealing with pressure, and her story into falling in love with football.
At the age of just 23, Maria Grohs has become one of the best goalkeepers in women’s football. Shutouts, flashy penalty saves and back-to-back league championships are some of the defining highlights of her young yet impressive career so far.
Nicknamed “Mala” by her childhood friends and teammates, that’s the name FC Bayern’s no.22 now goes by on and off the pitch. Born and raised in Münster right on the Dutch border, Groh’s younger brother spent every weekend on the football pitch playing for 1. FC Gievenbeck. With their parents unable to make every match, it was Mala who became his shadow, making the weekly trip, watching closely and developing her own passion for the game.
“I started playing next to the field and really enjoyed it and started playing football in school as well,” Grohs told SHE Scores Bangers. “It was actually my teacher in primary school who told my parents, ‘it would be a good idea to let her play.’”
Though many ‘keepers start kicking the ball in an out-field position, Grohs got familiar standing between the sticks from the early stages.
“From the very beginning, I was a goalkeeper. Our team’s goalkeeper quit so they needed one and I said, “Yeah, I want to do that” and I played there till the end of the season, it worked out well.”
In addition to football, Grohs balanced ballet dancing and violin classes. Finding her true passion on the pitch, ballet eventually fell by the wayside, while her violin lessons continued up until she finished school. The music? It still makes an appearance sometimes.
“I still have my violin and play when I have time or feel like it,” she laughs.
The German goalie was active in the regional scene playing with different players and showcasing her talent to various coaches who would be visiting from across the country. When she was 14, Mala went on an Airbus Defence and Space school internship 700 kilometres away from home in Munich. The space enthusiast could not go out for a run due to the harsh winter, but her coaches back in Münster made sure she stayed active.
“My coach asked Bayern if I could train with them and they said, ‘yeah, of course, no problem, but our under 17 girls team is not training right now. So you can join with the senior squad,’ that was cool to me so I went,” Grohs told SHE Scores Bangers.
“I got to know the goalkeeper coach back then and trained a few times with the first and second teams. It was an outstanding experience for me to meet the numerous role models I admired. The goalkeeper coach told me, ‘I could really imagine having you with us in the club,’ but I said I wanted to finish school first. He responded, ‘No problem. You can always call us, and I’ll call you.’ As the years went by, he actually did call me. That’s why I came back to Bayern for another trial, and then I decided I wanted to stay.”
Indeed, school was always a priority for the German talent. Though many of her friends went to boarding school and moved across the country to pursue a professional career, Grohs opted to stay close to family until she was 18. After almost 10 years with Gievenbeck, Mala joined VfL Bochum. With the addition of youth international call-ups, balancing things out was key.
“I talked to my teachers and staff members of the school that I really wanted to stay, but I also wanted to play football. I got all the support I needed from them,” says Grohs. “I could go on a training camp and take schoolwork with me. I could skip a lesson if necessary to go to training, it was really no problem.”
Once graduated, the promised call from FC Bayern came, and the Münster native signed with the second team in 2019, making her debut in a 4-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt II. Grohs enjoyed the culture of the club, was training regularly with the first team and had a quick rise with all coaches taken aback by her abilities.
“From the beginning, I was allowed to train once or twice a week with the first team goalkeeping group, so that’s was where I got the first contact with them,” says Grohs
“It was perfect for me. It was a good opportunity to get to know the club and the environment, as well as get used to being away from home in an atmosphere didn’t place a ton of pressure,”
After just 10 appearances, Mala signed with the first team in April. This meant she would join the first team squad for the upcoming 2020/21 season.
“At that time, a lot of people told me to go to a smaller club where I could play for the first team and play the games I needed because it's so important to get match practice. But I knew I wanted to end up in a big club,” recalls Grohs. “I wanted to make my way through, that was my plan and it turned out so good. I didn't want to go somewhere else.”
“I really liked being at the FC Bayern campus to train in the big gym. I think I spent so many hours there in my first few years just because I was like, '“Yeah, I want to use it all. I want to do it at all,” and it helped me develop so much.”
FC Bayern has put great emphasis on developing talent in the second team to prepare them for the next step. Sydney Lohmann and Franziska Kett who play in the current squad, both spent some time with Bayern Munich II before signing with the first team.
Mala regularly trained with Peter Kargus when she first joined the Munich club, a coach who has worked with almost all Bayern ‘keepers for over 16 years. This approach has provided a stable environment for youngsters to properly develop into players who can play in the Frauen Bundesliga and UWCL.
Trusting her skill set and ready to pounce on the opportunity when it came Grohs had her league debut in April of 2021, an eventual 3-2 defeat to Hoffenheim. She was still 19 at the time.
“I knew I was going to get my league debut a week or two before it happened because the other goalkeeper was injured. Nobody told me, but of course, I could see that she's not going to be fit,” Says Grohs.
“There was a lot on the line because we were in a good position in the league and didn't want to lose it. But then, of course, we did lose that game. Still, I was very proud and it was probably one of the best games I could have played with what skills I had. It was nice but we lost so afterwards I was, of course, very sad.”
What has set the German ‘keeper apart from others among many things, is her ability to bounce back after an out-of-character performance, or a blunder during the game. That is no coincidence given this is something she has continually worked towards.
“The key is that I always want to improve my mental game. Goalkeeping is all about the mental focus you bring to the pitch.”
Across 21 games last season, Grohs only conceded seven goals in the league, securing a clean sheet in 15 of those fixtures. Not only did this award her the Bundesliga Golden Glove at the end of the season, but it was the best ratio across Europe’s top five leagues.
The secret? Nailing down mental focus and the right arousal levels.
“I work very hard on my routines before the match in terms of how I approach the game. For example, I learned that I do better when I focus on one, two or three things. I don't go into a match thinking I want to do everything perfectly today, then I can’t focus on something specific. When I do my analysis of the game before, I take out two things I want to do better next time.
The second thing I learned is monitoring my body’s activity level. There's a specific activity stage where I have my best performances. It’s a perfect in-between where I’m not too stressed or super calm, and I’ve tried to learn how to reach that level of activity during all 90 minutes in a match. During a game, I expect one or two actions that are important and I’ve learnt to put myself, even if I expect an easy match, to be at the peak level so that I don’t miss these few important moments.”
Grohs had many stand-out saves last season, but nothing shines more than her three saves in the DFB Pokal semi-final penalty shootout against Frankfurt. The victory took Bayern to the cup final after a six-year absence, eventually losing to Wolfsburg and turning focus on the league. Lohmann had commented that Grohs did not save any penalties in training the day before.
“I was quite easy about it because the penalty shooting we did was for our players to have a good feeling about their shot. It's even harder for me to save penalties from players I know because I overthink it and then it doesn't work at all," she says with a laugh.
“On game day and going into the shootout, I had a very good level of self-confidence and trust in myself.”
Just a year prior to that in her first UWCL season, the German ‘keeper was huge in saving what was a game-deciding penalty in the 89th minute against Benfica in the group stages. Minutes after keeping the scoreline tied, Georgia Stanway scored a rocket securing the 3-2 win.
“Over the years, I’ve scanned how players look and move before they shoot in a certain direction, my IQ has grown, and I might not be aware of it but my brain knows, it has this advantage and I just let it all flow,” explains Grohs.
“For the Frankfurt game, I had a table on my bottle with some information, but still for one of them, I was wrong. One of the players that took a shot wasn't even on my table and I got a little stressed that I couldn't find her. But it was a good moment where everything came together and I had the trust in myself.”
Speaking of UWCL, the German side exited the group stages in the 23/24 season, a disappointing result given the manner they dropped points versus Rome, PSG and Ajax. Injuries to star players and losing focus in vital moments cost the team plenty.
“We are caring for each other and that’s what brings the best out of us. We know we are trusted by our teammates, and we trust each other. I'm so happy to have all those players around me that’s why we are good at handling difficult situations quite well,” she explains.
“We are a very hardworking group with players that want to win every game, play as good as possible and make steps in the right direction.”
Looking to push for a deeper run and a third consecutive league title, there is a lot to be excited for.
“I’m really looking forward to the Champions League and those bigger games. I want to see if what I do in training is making me a better goalkeeper or not, or at least know how it's going,” Grohs explains. “I’m excited to play again every week and get into that rhythm that we are used to, I miss it.
“I like the matches we have against Barcelona. It's fun facing them because they're playing the football we want to play as well. So it's always interesting to see how close we’ve come.”
With training hard, playing every week, and taking care of the mental aspect of the game, Mala’s celebration guilty pleasure includes, “I love to eat fries, and I like everything sweet. Cake and ice cream usually.”
Off the pitch, Grohs is currently studying mechanical engineering at a local university, completing her degree online as this is the career path she considers once she hangs up her gloves. And when it’s summertime, Mala enjoys spending a few weeks on a rented boat with family exploring different seas and oceans.
A piece of advice Grohs wants to leave fans and youth with is, “A lot of people were giving me advice, but I always knew what I wanted to do. That can also go wrong, but you can change direction again. If you know what you want to do, ignore what's outside and stay focused on your goal.”