The “Fistball at Home” initiative started by Swiss Faustball has shown how pioneering and creative learning videos with tips and hints for fistball training can be.

With the “United by Fistball” training platform, this initiative is being continued as part of the further development of the Fistball Academy, where in the future a wide spectrum of instructional videos and training ideas from experienced coaches and players from around the world will be made available to everyone – from beginners to professionals.

This enables us to provide suggestions and support for a varied training in the core countries of fistball, but also to show the new fistball nations new possibilities for clubs and coaches. On our IFA homepage you can already find some examples.

The structuring of the videos in different categories as well as in different levels of difficulty makes it easy to find new ideas for your training.

This part of the Fistball Academy is already supported by an internationally experienced training and coaching team. Rahel Schreiber (Head of training at Swiss Faustball), Martin Weiss (Training consultant and association coach at Fistball Austria) and Christian Sondern (School sports representative of Deutsche Faustball-Liga) coordinate the various tasks related to the platform and are your contact persons.

We will continuously update the platform with training videos in all areas and for all. Therefore, videos of coaches, players or fistball fans can of course be sent to us. Are you interested? Contact Uwe Schneider, chair of the IFA youth commission by mail: u.schneider@ifa-fistball.com

Support us in the development of “United by Fistball” – because fistball unites us all !

An IFA-leaded training, an academy congress and the advanced training seminar “Train the Trainer” – these were the actions which the Fistball Academy had organised for the teams and interested participants during the IFA Men’s World Championship 2019 in Winterthur.

IFA-leaded Training

Even before the start of the World Championships on Sunday, the IFA Fistball Academy had already organized a special training for some teams on Saturday as IFA-Leaded-Training in preparation for the World Championships. The teams from Namibia and Belgium had registered in advance and used the opportunity. With Roland Schubert – at the same time coach of the Danish national team – a very experienced trainer could be engaged for the training. The team from Namibia made the start. The start was in rainy weather with exercises for coordination, followed by tasks to improve defensive skills and reaction.

After two intensive hours the team from Belgium replaced the guys from Namibia. After a short warm-up, similar practices for coordination and defensive skills were on the agenda for the WC newcomer. The young team from Belgium also used the training to get the long journey to the World Championships off their hands. “Both teams were highly committed and had a lot of fun despite the bad weather”, said Uwe Schneider, chairman of the commission of youth and sports and organiser of the Fistball Academy, satisfied. And: Both teams could probably take a lot with them for the tournament. After all Namibia took eighth place and Belgium was 15th at the end of the great tournament – whether it was due to the good preparation for the tournament – who knows …

All the implemented practices and training units were recorded on film and are still made available to all as training skills by the Academy.

Academy Congress

On Monday, following the IFA Membership Gathering, the Academy Congress took place.
After welcoming the numerous participants, Jörn Verleger, the designated new IFA President, first presented the IFA’s current strategic plan for the next four years until 2023.
He emphasized that the further development of the Fistball Academy and the introduction of the IFA Development Program are forward-looking components of the IFA’s strategic orientation.

After that Uwe Schneider as head of the commission of youth and sports informed about the current status of the measures of the introduced Fistball Academy as one of the future-oriented services of the IFA. In this context, the main structure, contents and targets of the Fistball Academy were presented. Beside the introduction and organization of a structured own information and knowledge platform in particular new formats for the range of the education and further training are to be developed. In future, training modules will be developed for the respective target groups and subject areas , which will guarantee improved and easier teaching and transfer of training and learning contents in theory and practice by means of detailed presentations and integrated training videos. Furthermore, this segment will be enhanced by the publication of training skills, which will enable easy access to training opportunities and exercises through a simple basic structure and structured division according to basic techniques and skills. In addition, the development of profound fundamentals for an international trainer education rounds off the area of education, so that a sustainable promotion and support of new and young nations is made possible. A first training module as well as the first training skills were presented in the context of the congress. Due to their content and numerous synergies, a close cooperation between the Fistball Academy and the IFA Development Programme is planned.

Roger Willen then presented the IFA Development Programme. The IFA Development Programme is intended to support and promote young and new nations in particular. With the creation of a development plan and the agreement of development goals, the sustainable promotion and dissemination of fistball in the respective nations is to be supported. A special incentive is that the respective nations can reduce their membership fees if the agreed goals are achieved. In addition, the IFA Development Director explained the possibilities of acting as a fistball ambassador for the IFA. With this instrument and program the spreading of the fistball sport is to be supported additionally world-wide. With Tommy Helber, who was the head coach of the Australian national team during the World Championships, the Fistball Academy had invited one of the ambassadors working for the IFA, who at the end of the event reported on his numerous experiences, impressions and his interesting time as a fistball ambassador in Australia.

The very well attended Academy Congress offered all participants an excellent opportunity to inform themselves about the future plans, measures and developments of the IFA. We are very excited to see who we can soon welcome as a fistball ambassador or in our team for the Development Program and the further development of the Fistball Academy.

Train the Trainer

At the end the Fistball Academy had organized the advanced training seminar “Train the Trainer”. The programme included two theoretical and two practical units. With Dirk Schachtsiek as multiple world champion and Hartmut Maus as trainer with decades of experience, excellent experts were invited for the seminar. With participants from New Zealand, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Argentina, Colombia and Austria, the event was filled to capacity.

In the theoretical part, the participants first received information about effective training structures and interesting facts about various attack- and striking techniques. After a short break, the practical training units followed, in which the participants themselves should take part. Thus, in addition to training exercises from the throwing and sprint disciplines, prevention practices as well as tips and tricks for attacking players were presented as a possible training input for fistball, for example, and the participants were then able to try out and train them themselves in groups. Here, too, all exercises were filmed and become part of the training skills of the Fistball Academy. In addition to the many theoretical and practical information, the fun was not missing, so that at the end of the seminar all participants were more than satisfied.

Conclusion:
“All measures of the Fistball Academy – like the World Championships itself – were a complete success,” said Uwe Schneider. “The encouragement and feedback from the participants was more than positive, so that the Fistball Academy will continue to organise such offers and side events in the future. At this point once again we want to thank Roland, Dirk and Hartmut for the preparation and support of the events. Another big thank you goes to the OC team on site in Winterthur, who actively supported and made all measures possible. And I would also like to thank Sönke Spille, who accompanied all three events with his camera“.

In the framework of the European Men´s Fistball Championships in Adelmannsfelden for the first time the International Fistball Association suggested the concept of the new founded IFA „Fistball Academy“.
Uwe Schneider as the chair of the IFA Youth and Sport Commission presented the contents, the targets and the scheduled structure of the Fistball Academy to representatives of many federations.

The task of the International Fistball Association (IFA) is to lead fistball into the future.
By the development of sustainable and forward-looking concepts, the requirements should be created.
One component will be the new formate and network of the Fistball Academy.

The traget of the Fistball Academy is to foster the exchange of knowledge, education and communication in cooperation with the member federations of the IFA and to provide and to support new ideas for the prospective and worldwide development of fistball. For this purpose offers of knowledge, information and education will be provided to all stakeholders in a clear structure. Knowledge and information should be collected, should be new developed and should be exchanged to provide these contents on an online platform. Further on the education of players, coaches, teachers, referees, sport scientists or officials should be supported by the development of schooling modules and will be improved by practically oriented events. In addition to that the communication should be increased by the medium of the Fistball Academy between the member federations and the dialogue should be led to a cooperation and to synergies. Uwe Schneider reported that already in the framework of the Youth World Championships in Roxbury and the Women’s World Championships in Linz the first projects of the Fistball Academy were successfully implemented.

In the following weeks the task forces should be casted to start the upcoming projects and the necessary structures should be created.
Further information about the Fistball Academy are to be found: Academy Presentations

The foundation of the Fistball Academy is embedded in many changes and new structures of the IFA. For that reason the presentation was accompanied by Jörn Verleger as the IFA Secretary General who in addition to that informed about the cur rent and prospective developments of the IFA. Here he emphasised the importance of the structural changes within the IFA association and the co-operations with other umbrella sports associations in view of the targeted IOC recognition. The IOC recognition of fistball offers the requirement for financial support and promotion by by national sports associations or other governmental institutions. In that case the IOC recognition is very important for a further development and spread of Fistball in all countries.

After a short discussion and the appeal to support the development and to collaborate in the different task forces of the Fistball Academy an informative evening came to an end.

On the occasion of the IFA 2018 Fistball Women’s World Championship, the newly established IFA Fistball Academy offered a training session for the new fistball nations. All four World Championship newcomers – New Zealand, Serbia, Belgium and Poland – took up the offer.

Following a meeting with the players and coaches, which discussed the respective wishes and expectations, the teams started the practice. With the support of Ernst Almhofer, school sports coordinator of the Austrian Fistball Association, the training taught basic techniques with a variety of exercises. At the end of the two-hour session, the teams played a training tournament at a smaller field.

The training was a big success for all participants and an excellent preparation for the players ahead of the World Championship. The teams enjoyed the event and took up the offer with enthusiasm. The Belgian team even took a second training session during the World Championship. The newcomers played a strong tournament – with New Zealand winning the President’s Cup and thus securing ninth place, Serbia finishing eight, and Poland drove home a sensational sixth place.

We hope that these teams, and others, will continue to take up IFA Fistball Academy offers at World Championships and other occasions in the future. Stay tuned for updates on the IFA Fistball Academy!

Xavier is the No. 1 jersey of the American national fistball team still far too big.
No wonder – Xavier is only 6 years old.
But since he first saw fistball and played it himself, he now wants to learn this sport.
During the U18 World Championships in Roxbury, the newly founded IFA Fistball Academy established a fun court.
Under the motto “Fun with Fistball” the possibility should be offered especially for children under 10 years to get to know the sport of fistball with its basic rules and techniques and to gain first experiences.
Xavier was one of the small participants of this academy measure, had never seen fistball before.
He was there immediately with zeal and can’t get enough training since then.
Now he has been training at the Swim and Sports Club in Flanders for 2 weeks under the leadership of the President of the US Fistball Association, Bob Feid.
Who knows, maybe we’ll see Xavier again in a few years – if the American national team jersey suits him then…