For SWR sports reporter Patrick Stricker, the triumph of the German fistball players at the World Cup in Mannheim is his sports moment of 2023. A look back at a special tournament.
A feeling that always gives me lots of happy hormones is the state of childlike anticipation. Those moments when you realize: the time has come. Something is about to happen that you have been waiting for, looking forward to or working towards for a long time.
I used to feel this feeling especially shortly before the presents were handed out on Christmas Eve, and later immediately before I passed my driving license or high school exams. But I think it’s even better when I can observe this childlike anticipation in other people. Like on July 29, 2023.
Patrick Thomas made Germany the fistball world champion
On that Saturday afternoon, Johannes Jungclaussen suddenly had a sparkle in his eyes that I will probably not forget for a long time. The attacker for the German national fistball team ran into the arms of his teammate and captain Fabian Sagstetter, high-fived him and grinned from ear to ear.
In the World Cup final against Austria in Mannheim, Germany had just secured three match points and winning the title was within reach. After a final timeout by the Austrians, Patrick Thomas’ golden return and almost two minutes of childlike anticipation, it was finally done: Germany, fistball world champions in 2023.
This World Cup triumph is my sports moment of the year because, for me, it combines many of the things that make reporting on sports or athletes and their achievements so special. What impressed me most was the passion with which the ten likeable national players and their support team led by national coach Olaf Neuenfeld prepared for this tournament. And above all: with whom they pulled it off.
Since this summer, fistball has been a sport that has left its shadowy existence as a fringe sport behind it. A perfectly organized home World Cup in Mannheim, with exciting games in the Rhein-Neckar Stadium and a spectacle on the final weekend in the SAP Arena, plus the popular live broadcasts on SWR Sport: Fistball worked diligently on its image for a week, gained many fans and a new level of popularity.
New fame, old conditions: fistball players are not professionals
Fistball, which shouldn’t be forgotten despite all the fresh paint, is still played by amateurs – not professionals. Jungclaussen, Sagstetter and Co. invest a lot of time in training, Bundesliga games and tournaments like a professional, but they don’t earn money to live on.
Not even for Patrick Thomas from Pfungstadt, who enjoyed an international reputation as the world’s best attacker for years. Alongside four other World Cup heroes, he ended his career in the national team in September, where he leaves a gap that is significantly larger than the palm of his hand, which measures a whopping 22 centimeters.
Fistball Germany is facing upheaval
Of course, in the late afternoon of July 29th, the huge upheaval that record world champions Germany is now facing was not yet thought of. Almost two hours after the match point, around 10,000 fans were already on their way home, the fistball players finally had the Mannheim Arena to themselves.
Where there had just been a loud final party, there were now moments of calm and pause. Moments in which I noticed a mix of completely different emotional states among the players.
Fistball will join ice hockey and basketball in 2023
There was exhaustion, of course, the World Cup week had taken a lot of strength, both physically and mentally. Above all, there was pride in what had been achieved, in our own small chapter in German sporting history.
This chapter is nowhere near as big as the one that has already been written by German ice hockey players this year or that should still be written by the basketball players. But: it exists. With their triumph at the home World Cup, the national fistball team truly caused a hallelujah. Childish anticipation was absolutely appropriate.
2023-12-24 23:03:18
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