Jana Schauff dreams of America

• fromAndreas Mayr

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In basketball, the USA continues to be the “promised land”. Jana Schauff would also like to play there and at college. The 14-year-old from Weilheim also trains hard for this.

Weilheim – There are also the craziest stories about the best basketball players. The legendary NBA star Kobe Bryant, as Jochen Hahne, the FC Bayern Munich team doctor from Murnau, once reported, had a hall organized for him during his treatment in Germany at night. He just wanted to take a few throws so as not to lose that feeling in his fingers, the elixir of a sniper. So you phoned a lot and late and actually found a gym for Kobe Bryant.

If everything goes well here, not only about Corona, but above all about Jana Schauff’s career, then the woman from Weilheim will also be able to tell many such stories. About those days in the Hardt School, when the craftsmen next door sawed the hall floor, “Bayern 3” crashed out of the bad speakers, and she sprinted back and forth until she eventually rolled her calves on a basketball to relax . This is what the 14-year-olds everyday evening looks like. She trains four times a week – two days in Weilheim and two in Munich.

Jana Schauff trains four times a week

Before someone rebels and grimly insists on compliance with the corona measures: Jana Schauff is allowed to do that. As a Bayern player, she is one of the field of competitive athletes, and such units are permitted. After all, this is not fiddling, but hard work. Two baskets, two balls and two hours with Henning Ballhausen, last second division player in Paderborn and now your coach. They run, they dribble, they throw, and a lot of that. This has been going on for two months and it could go on for some time. She likes this individual training. “The trainer always looks at your litter and not at the others.” There is hardly any time for individual support in team units. Henning, she says, helps her in all areas: “He pushes me, also mentally,” says the 14-year-old.

In the area there is hardly a more suitable place than Ballhausen, who at the age of 21 practically experienced what Jana Schauff wanted. His talent for basketball took him to the USA, then to division two in Germany. When Schauff talks about her goals, she only says two words: “America. College. ”She did research on how to get there. To put it more appropriately: No university is throwing out scholarships in the women’s field. She should be quite good at school. Works at the moment. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt if she kept developing at the same pace on the basketball court.

Jana Schauff has been part of the Bayern team since 2019

The Weilheimerin has been part of the Bayern team since 2019. Ballhausen has registered them for the selection process. She survived selection after selection, is now training under Imre Szittya, the former national coach, and has now also met players her age, born in 2006, who are better. Her parents, Anne and Harald, take over the transport service to Munich-Laim. The Bavarian team trains there.

Although Jana Schauff is one of the privileged Germans in times like these, she is tired of this lockdown – like pretty much everyone in the country. She misses the games. A year ago, what a contrast, it ran twice every weekend. Once for Weilheim, once for Murnau. The TSV U16s led them to first place with an average of 33 points. Her teammates, the two sisters Svea and Finja Hansen-Wester, then took her to the ESV Staffelsee, which competes in the U16 division in the regional league. Jana Schauff also impressed the neighbors. Hardly anyone plays so flawlessly at this age, praise the Murnauer. The 14-year-old says about herself and her weaknesses: “Sometimes I think too much.”

She scores most of her points near the basket. With their mixture of technique and momentum, the opponents cannot keep up. Her role model is Kyrie Irving, the most gifted dribbler among the NBA stars. He has a similar portfolio. Americans often say of Irving that he dances with his opponents because it looks as smooth as he moves. There could hardly be a better coincidence, but Jana Schauff dances in the club herself. She was a dancer before she became a basketball player. Your brother started playing basketball. She came into the hall. Now it has come to the point that the little sister Finja and her siblings are throwing them on the basket at home and playing at TSV. Her brother Tim still wins this backyard duel. But Jana Schauff is making progress: “I don’t lose so much anymore.”

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