Colin Grzanna started playing rugby when he was five years old, in 1984, playing with his South African cousins. He is currently playing for Berliner Rugby Club, where he also covers a coaching role, together with
Gerrit van Look, another player of the German national team. Although playing for Berlin for the most part of his career, Grzanna spent the 2000 season with the
Northwood Crusaders in
Durban, South Africa before returning to Berlin again. He was part of the German Sevens side at the
World Games 2005 in
Duisburg, where Germany finished 8th. He filled in as German captain for an injured
Jens Schmidt in late 2007 and early 2008. Himself injured later in the year, suffering a broken hand and requiring pins after the game against
SC Neuenheim on 13 September 2008, he planned to retire from the national team but, according to his captain Schmidt, he loves the game too much and Germany needs his skills too badly for him to retire. His greatest success as a national team player was the promotion to Division 1 of the European Nations Cup in 2008. In an interview after the promotion-winning game, which he captained, he stated that, in his opinion, this was the greatest moment in German rugby in almost 30 years. Grzanna voiced his anger with the image of the game in Germany, where it is often unfairly associated with only being played by rough individuals. He considers it the perfect game, as – he says – there is a position for everybody in the game, regardless of someone's size or height. Grzanna last played for Germany on 2 May 2009, against Russia, and has since retired from the national team. ==Personal life==