Dear Fistball friends,

2020 was a challenging year.

At the beginning of the year we hoped to strengthen our position within the sports family by:
– World Class Events
– Global Growth
– Women in Sports
– Teaming up
– Showing our great media potential

But it looked different to what we had hoped: Lockdown. Training bans. Sanitation everywhere. No spectators in the venue. Canceled championships. Broken dreams. Season resumptions. Season can-cellations. The COVID-19 year 2020 has confronted Fistball – at the top as well as sports for all – with unprecedented challenges.

The world has stood still as rarely before, and yet it is in turmoil. The effects of the pandemic were and are catastrophic. The economic slump is enormous, unemployment has risen sharply, and many are on short-time work.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died from the disease worldwide and we can only speculate about the long-term effects on health that will result from the disease and the loss of sporting activi-ties.

And it is far from over. It is clear that the consequences of the pandemic will accompany us for years to come. But it is also clear that there will be a time after COVID-19.

It has been the biggest challenge in decades

The COVID-19 crisis poses an enormous challenge to humanity, probably the greatest in decades.

It has forced us to rethink what we usually take for granted and routines in our professional and per-sonal lives.

John F. Kennedy often pointed out in his speeches that the Chinese character for crisis contains two syllables that, read individually, mean the words danger and opportunity. While this might not be one hundred percent correct linguistically, there is something to it in terms of content, including the COVID-19 crisis.
Despite the long standstill in sport, the postponement or cancellation of almost all major sporting events, the continued uncertainty and all the restrictions, 2020 was also a sporting year with many hopeful signs, of friendship, solidarity and new initiatives e.g.

– IFA expanded its portfolio as service provider for its member federations and event organizers,
– IFA updated its Sustainability Policy and committed itself as an association to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases caused by IFA by 4.5 percent annually over the next 10 years as part of the “Race to Zero” initiative,
– IFA approved the new IFA Safe Sport Policy to provide athletes of all ages with appropriate safety and protection,
– IFA adopted a new Anti-Doping Code based on the new WADA World Anti-Doping Code 2021 and
– IFA was accepted as partner of the project “International and European Sport Organisations Activate Citizens” selected by the European Commission and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union in 2021 – 2022.

Plans for 2021

On 9 January 2021 the IFA Athletes´ Commission will conduct the 2nd IFA Athletes Forum (virtually) to which we would like to warmly invite you on behalf of the chairwomen of the IFA Athletes´ Commission.

Furthermore we invite you to plan and run activities around the IFA´s 61st birthday on 30 January 2021, which will be celebrated as the newly established World Fistball Day every year in the future.

We very much hope that we can celebrate together again at next year´s competitions like the IFA Women´s World Championship, which was awarded as a result of this year´s cancellation to Jona (Switzerland), at the U18 World Champs in Grieskirchen (Austria) or the 2021 World Tour Finals.

The 7th edition of the CSIT World Sports Games (WSG) will be hosted from June 1 – 6, 2021 in Cesenatico and Cervia (ITA) and IFA will conduct the IFA CSIT 2021 Fistball Amateur World Cup within the WSG.

Fistball will also be part of the 7th TAFISA World Sport for All Games, that will take place in Lisbon, from June 18 – 24, 2021. It will be a spectacular event that brings together color, dance, games, culture and promotes peace, friendship and lots of fun to which Fistball has been invited as a tradi-tional sport to the sport demonstration and competition program. The TAFISA Games typically attract up to 50,000 participants and visitors from up to 100 countries, and are sponsored by the Interna-tional Olympic Committee and UNESCO.

Next to others like the EFA Fistball Men´s European Championship in Kaltern (ITA) we have a lot of plans for 2021 which hopefully can be run, but the most important thing is, that you and your loved ones stay healthy.

We would like to thank so much you for your friendship and support in 2020.

Have a good start in a better 2021.

Letter IFA President and Secretary General to the IFA Member Federations.

Five questions: What was the best thing about the sporting year of 2020? What about the year gives us courage? Finally: Why will 2021 definitely be better?

Lockdown. Training ban. Hygiene concepts everywhere. No spectators in the venues. Canceled championships. Broken dreams. Season resumptions. Season reductions. The COVID-19-year 2020 has also confronted sport – at the competitive level as well as leisure sport for everyone – with unprecedented challenges.

We wanted to know from our athletes how their experience this year has been. What bothered them. What gives them hope on the threshold to the new year. And whether 2020 didn’t hold anything good after all.

The questions:
1. What was / is the best thing about 2020?
2. What I learned this year…
3. Something that annoyed me,,,
4. This gives me courage…
5. 2021 will definitely be a better year because …

Katharina Lackinger (national player from Austria, Chairwoman IFA Athletes´ Commission)

1) That despite the crisis, new opportunities and chances have always arisen, especially professionally. Also, that we had a – at least in parts – normal sporting and social life in the summer and that I was still able to experience beautiful, if somewhat extraordinary moments with my girls this year.

2) How important my friends and family are for me and that we always stick together even in difficult times. A big point in this year was definitely to be flexible and positive, which I have learned in any case.

3) That I had to put all my plans on hold this year. Some pretty cool events that were on the schedule, World Championship in Chile, World Tour Finals in Birmingham and a trip to New Zealand. Also, our bad internet connection cost me some nerves in one or the other meeting 😉

4) That I have an environment I can totally rely on. And I think everyone is trying hard to get back into our “normal” everyday life – I’m looking positively ahead!

5) … probably/hopefully nothing will upset us so quickly after 2020.

Patrick Thomas (national player from Germany, 3x World Champion, 2x winner of the World Games)

1) That life slowed down a bit again and the weekends were not all pre-planned. 2019 in particular was very demanding physically and mentally due to the World Championships in Winterthur and many other international and national championships, training camps, tournaments, etc. It was good to slow down a bit and use the weekends for other things.

2) That health is more important than anything else. Of course, I was already aware of this before, but sometimes drastic experiences make you especially aware of it. Especially in the case of negative experiences, one should make clear to oneself that there are much worse things on our planet.

3) Conspiracy theorists, contrarians and mask deniers. I just can’t understand how anyone can deny or underestimate a global pandemic. The fact that this selfish behavior is carried out on the backs of the weakest members of our society makes me really angry.

4) That even in times of crisis, there can be further developments and positive as well as sustainable changes.
For example, digitalization has advanced considerably through the discovery of home office solutions or the increased use of video conferencing meetings.
Personally, I was able to use the time for further studies on a part-time level, which I hope to complete next June.

5) There is hope again for an end to the crisis due to the vaccine that has been developed. We will still have to deal with restrictions for a few months, but we will be grateful for smaller things in life, which we will get back step by step. Of course, I also hope that we will soon be able to play Fistball again and I look forward to seeing many familiar faces on and off the court again.

Helena Schuh (U18 national player Austria)

1) The best thing about this extraordinary year was that I found enough time for things that otherwise would not have been possible. I was able to take up old hobbies again. In addition, we were able to play a shortened, but still exciting championship in the summer.

2) I learned to value social gatherings more and I realized how important friendship and family are for me. I also practiced self-discipline through the challenge of homeschooling and missing Fistball practices, which I replaced with strength and endurance workouts.

3) Of course, the cancellation or postponement of the U18 world championships was very bitter. But what I missed the most were the trainings with my team.

4) On the one hand, the vaccination, which will hopefully soon limit the spread of the virus and thus eliminate the restrictive measures. On the other hand, the thought that I still have many Fistball years ahead of me, however they will turn out.

5) I think it is getting better because we have learned to deal with the virus. In the Fistball family, we are really looking forward to a comeback on the field of play. In addition, I could use the year well to build up a good physical base for 2021.

Eric Kindler (national player USA, Deputy chair IFA Athletes´ Commission)

1) Among the many unfortunate happenings of 2020, I was able to continue to work and hold a better appreciation for the industry I chose to work in. Also, all of my family members were able to keep or modify their jobs and thus did not have to struggle financially during this time.

2) I learned very quickly that many people have differing opinions on how to handle a pandemic situation and that the politics within how it is handled is very challenging for both sides.

3) As someone that is not very politically savvy or involved, I was frustrated that I wasn’t able to do things on my own free will such as Fistball.

4) I look forward to the return to some sort of normal and the development of the vaccines definitely makes this a more achievable goal for society.

5) … there will be Fistball!

Nick Trinemeier (national player for Germany, 2x World Champion, winner of the World Games 2017)

1) That I value meetings with family and friends more, even if they are less frequent.

2) That I enjoy playing fistball even without an upcoming competition and would love to play it every day.

3) That many championships and tournaments have been cancelled and that we can’t embrace each other.

4) That we can overcome challenges together and will do so again.

5) That more normality will return to our lives and we may even appreciate this more for some time.

We know that the pandemic has had an enormous impact on both, our private lives and our Fistball lives.
As we have recognized throughout the last 3 years, the IFA Fistball World Tour has made a huge contribution to international cooperation and solidarity.
And as solidarity being a central issue for the upcoming year we would like to inform you about the current status of our World Tour planning, although we are still not in the position to fix the key points.

Start of IFA World Tour 2021:
Although a vaccine and medication might make the end of the pandemic foreseeable we do not know at the moment, when a restart of the tour can be envisaged. We want to ensure that all the interested teams have the opportunity to take part in the tournaments: Travel restrictions may impede the carrying out of the first tournaments of the year. Based on an optimistic forecast, 1 April 2021 could be the kick-off date for the restart of the tournament series.

IFA World Tour Finals 2021:
After 2 successful initial events in Europe IFA has tried hard to find an organizer in one of the Americas. The host of the 2022 World Games, Birmingham, had to withdraw from hosting the World Tour Finals after the Olympics were postponed, just like our planned substitute host Sogipa Porto Alegre had to. As IFA is still in negotiations with 3 clubs in South America and this has also influence on the World Tour Calendar, no final decision can be made. We were also negotiating with the traditional hosts of IFA World Tour tournaments in South America about shifting their tournaments close to the date (mid of October) of the possible World Tour Final in South America: A sequence of tournaments and World Tour Final is our common goal.

Host Registration and Club Team Registration
After the two key issues have been settled we will provide final information and start the registration process on the basis of the regulation update we created last year. Download the regulations here: REGULATIONS

We know we are going through really difficult times. We nevertheless wish you all the best for the year 2021.
We hope the World Tour can contribute a little to a new and better future.
Together we are Fistball!

IFA is proud to announce that we are partner of the TAFISA project “International and European Sport Organisations Activate Citizens” which has been selected by the European Commission and will be co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European union in 2021 – 2022.

The project aims to gather International and European Sport Organisations (IESOs) and develop a new delivery system that places participation in Sport for All and physical activity at its core. It will reflect on how to adapt sports, their rules, settings, delivery, etc. to the needs of target groups and grass-roots sport participation, and on how IESOs can better contribute to achieve the objectives of key European and International policy papers, including, but not limited to, the WHO Global Action Plan for Physical Activity, UNESCO Kazan Action Plan, UN Sustainable Development Goals, EU Council Recommendation on HEPA, and EU Physical Activity Guidelines.

The project will be led in cooperation with the following partners:

• International Table Tennis Federation Foundation
• World Minigolf Sport Federation
• International Fistball Association
• International Dance Organisation
• Confederazione Boccistica Internazionale
• German Flying-Disc Federation
• Italian Federation of Traditional Sports and Games
• Sports Union of Slovenia

A set of resources will be developed to empower and support IESOs and their respective National Federations to adopt new strategies to promote Sport for All and physical activity participation, including the following:

• A study and report on IESOs’ needs and expectations towards the project and to better promote (and increase) participation
• An online and easily accessible platform of good practices
• An IESOs’ Sport for All and physical activity toolkit
• A “Capacity building in Sport for All and physical activity” training for IESOs staff and volunteers
• A new IESOs International Sport for All event

The project will seek to create new opportunities for citizens, especially the physically inactive, to try out and practice new sports and disciplines that are adapted to their needs.

The IFA will play a leading role in the project through Theresa Eidenhammer and Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has published its 2019 Testing Figures Report (2019 Report), which summarizes the results of all the samples WADA-accredited Laboratories analyzed and reported in WADA’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) in 2019 (see: https://wada-ama.org/en/resources/laboratories/anti-doping-testing-figures-report).

“IFA is glad to see that also in 2019 no doping case had to be reported in Fistball”, said IFA Anti-Doping Administrator Theresa Eidenhammer (see also IFA Anti-Doping-Plan 2019).

WADA’s Annual Testing Figures Report is a key tool for information sharing between Anti-Doping Organizations. It provides the anti-doping community with a wealth of data allowing them to assess their anti-doping strategies and identify potential patterns of doping or areas of improvement.

Yesterday in its 8th meeting the IFA Board of Directors approved the IFA Budget 2021 including a upgraded IFA Development Program and new established IFA Youth Program each worth 25,000 € for 2021. This was approved unanimous also as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the problems the member federation currently face to support the member federation´s sustainable youth activities.

Furthermore, IFA – having had no international competition event in 2020 – invited all member federations to nominate proposals for the 2020 IFA Awards in the categories:
– IFA CLIMATE ACTION AWARD
– IFA SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AWARD
– IFA WOMEN IN SPORTS AWARD
– IFA ACTIVITY AWARD
– IFA SPORT FOR GOOD AWARD
– IFA MEDIA AWARD
– IFA LIFETIME ARCHIEVEMENT AWARD

The proposals should be sent by email to office@ifa-fistball.com latest until 30 December 2020.

“We are sure that there have been especially in this challenging year 2020 some small or larger initi-atives within the Fistball family on local, regional or national to support the community and which are in line with our strategic goals of making the world a better place through sport. We warmly invited all levels submit proposal to honor special initiatives within the Fistball family”, said IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner.

Portugal as 66th member federation

The IFA is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved Portugal as its newest member associations, increasing IFA’s membership to 66 national member associations.
“IFA is proud to welcome the new member associations to the IFA,” said IFA President Jörn Verleger. “I am pretty sure that with the proactive work of our Development Director Roger Willen and the 2018 established IFA Ambassador´s Program we will reached our development goal to have a total of more than 70 member federations latest until mid of 2021,” he said.

Furthermore, the board approved the new IFA Safe Sport Policy, which replaces the IFA Anti-Harassment Policy and Procedures. Since 2016 IFA had been one of the first international sports federations with separate rules in place to provide athletes of all ages with appropriate safety and protection while involved in the activities of IFA, and to allow staff and volunteers to make informed and confident responses to specific safeguarding and athlete/child protection issues.

The so fare Anti-Harassment Officers Vikki Buston (NZL) and Theresa Eidenhammer (AUT) have been confirmed as IFA Integrity Officers.

Finally the board together with the chairwomen of the IFA Athletes´ Commission announced an IFA Athletes Forum (virtual) on 9 January 2021 as well as the planning of IFA´s 61st birthday on 30 January 2021, which will be celebrated as new established World Fistball Day every year in the future.

It is with greatest sadness that the International Fistball Association (IFA) has learnt that Victor Hugo Körbes, called Vitão passed away in today´s early hours at the age of 67 in Brazil.

The 67-year-old striker won the silver medal with the Brazilian national team in 1972, 1976 and 1982. At the 1982 Fistball World Championship in Hannover (GER). The event took place on September 17-18, 1982. 7,500 spectators watched the Gold Medal Match between Germany and Brazil, which Germany won with 35:28.
In Memoriam: Victor Hugo Körbes, triple Vice World Champion

“Vitão had a real passion for sport and spent his whole career promoting its values at the highest level of Fistball sport,” said IFA Honorary President Karl Weiss. “Vitão will be dearly missed in his club Novo Hamburgo and the Fistball family”.

Vitão, who did from COVID-19 as his club Novo Hamburgo has announced.

The IFA expresses its deepest sympathies to Vitão´s family and friends.

The International Fistball Association (IFA) awarded the next Fistball highlight event in their last Board of Directors’ meeting: The 2021 Women’s World Championship takes place in Switzerland. The women’s highlight event will be carried out in Rapperswil-Jona from 13 to 17 July 2021.

As Chile had to withdraw from hosting the IFA Women’s World Championship in 2021, IFA started talks with Swiss Faustball and TSV Jona as alternative locations for this major event. The Organizers IFA, Swiss Faustball and TSV Jona want to show a high team spirit in challenging times and are pleased to announce the upcoming event as ‘World Championship of solidarity’.
“The successful realization of the outdoor season 2020 has shown to us that the prevention concepts developed in several nations make the organization of events possible.
By awarding the World Championship to TSV Jona during the current COVID-19 situation, we want to set a powerful signal to the Fistball world and emphasize the importance of sport for our society. The professional approach of TSV Jona and the ability to ‘think differently’ have convinced us all. We can look forward to the result”, says IFA President Jörn Verleger.

The team around Martin Grögli and Charly Raymann took on the task with great commitment right from the start. “The development of a central idea and concept for the implementation of the IFA Women’s Fistball World Championship 2021 is no easy task in view of the pandemic challenges. It is an honor and a real affair of the heart for us to be able to host this event,” says Grögli, President of TSV Jona.

The opening match takes place on Tuesday, 13 July 2021 and the Gold medal match is scheduled for Saturday, 17 July. TSV Jona is a highly experienced host and get strong support from both, the local and regional government. It is the second time after 2006 that the Women’s World Championship will be taking place in Jona and in Switzerland. After the Men’s World Championship 2019 in Winterthur, Switzerland is again host for a major Fistball event.

Financial support of local authorities makes the World Championship possible

“We are very glad to present TSV Jona as new host of next year’s Women’s World Championship and to have a reliable partner on our side who can organize that event with a forerun of just eight months. The commitment of Swiss Faustball and especially TSV Jona to undertake a World Championship during a worldwide pandemic cannot be overstated. Therefore, a big thank to them and also to the local authorities who financially support the event”, says IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner.

“It is a great honor to get the Women’s World Championship awarded after the successful men’s event last year. Because of the support of Swiss Gymnastics Federation (STV), Sport Union Switzerland, Federal Office of Sport, canton St. Gallen and the city of Rapperswil-Jona we are in a position to undertake the event. We are looking forward to a big Fistball festival in Switzerland and are hoping to welcome the Fistball world in Jona again”, says Franco Giori, President of Swiss Faustball.
 
Dynamic logo for a dynamic World Championship

The great commitment of the local organizing team is also shown by the development of the event logo. It should symbolize the Fistball world is going to Switzerland. The movement of the female player represents the power of women’s Fistball. The color red stands for Switzerland and the city of Rapperswil-Jona, grey represents the club TSV Jona. One logo detail is the skyline of Rapperswil-Jona with its famous castle.

Preparations started already last summer

The organization of the Women’s World Championship already started last summer. During the Men’s Fistball match between Switzerland and Austria at the beginning of August, a first onsite visit took place. The possible sports facilities and the necessary infrastructure were inspected by IFA. Later negotiations with local authorities, stadium owner and potential sponsors started. Furthermore, a first plan of the event itself was developed. Up to 16 women’s national teams from all continents will join a great Fistball competition next year which will be also a qualifier for The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, USA. The national associations have the option to register their teams by 15 December at the latest.

Photo: Wolfgang Benedik (bewo)

From the 18th to 22nd of November the world will see the biggest virtual youth festival. The United Through Sports (UTS) Virtual Youth Festival will be under patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Paralympic committee (OPC) and Special Olympics (SOI). The President of the IOC, Thomas Bach, President of the IPC, Andrew Parsons and so many others will open this event. The opening ceremony will be broadcasted on the Olympic Channel on the 20 November at 13:00 CET, immediately followed by a 3 day conference and workshop.

Youth athletes from over 80 organisations made it through their respective qualification events to represent their sport and organisation at this unprecedented event.

Within the UTS Virtual Youth Festival three important youth oriented workshops take place on 18 and 19 November. All participants who attend all three Workshops will receive a special certificate from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and Special Olympics (SOI). The given time slots are Central European Time (CET). Please adjust to your time zones.

WORKSHOP 1
When: 18 November 2020
Time: 05:00-06.00 CET
“BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL CHANGE LEADER IN YOUR COMMUNITY THROUGH SPORT”
PRESENTED BY YUNUS SPORTS HUB & IOC YOUTH LEADERS
Register in advance for this meeting: REGISTRATION

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

WORKSHOP 2
When: 19 November 2020
Time: 04:00AM-05:00 CET
“CLEAN SPORT”
PRESENTED BY WADA & ITA
Register in advance for this meeting: REGISTRATION
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

WORKSHOP 3
When: 19 November 2020
Time: 06:00-07.00 CET
“I’MPOSSIBLE AND THE PARALYMPIC MOVEMENT”
PRESENTED BY I’MPOSSIBLE (IPC)
Register in advance for this meeting: REGISTRATION
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

All workshops are 60 minutes duration. Each participant is required to register upon entry to the workshops.

ONLY participants that register & enter ALL 3 of the abovementioned workshops will receive a special certificate from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and Special Olympics (SOI).
Registration and attendance will be monitored to determine those that are eligible to receive this once in a lifetime certificate.

The closing ceremony will be held on the 22 November at 13:00 am.

IFA President Jörn Verleger is part of a panel of the International Federation (IF) Forum 2020, which will explore “How Sport and Society Can Emerge Stronger from a Global Crisis” tomorrow.

13:00-13:35
PANEL SESSION: HOW TO LIMIT AND MITIGATE EXPOSURE
Moderated by: David Eades, Anchor and Journalist, BBC World
Dr. Richard Budgett, Medical and Scientific Director, International Olympic Committee
Thomas Guesde, SVP Global Sports and Events Practice, Marsh
Johannes Lippert, Sales Director, SKIDATA GmbH
Jörn Verleger, President, International Fistball Association (IFA)

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach and SportAccord and the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) President Dr. Raffaele Chiulli are among the high-profile speakers who will participate in the fully virtual International Federation (IF) Forum 2020, which kicks off tomorrow.

Last year IFA was represented by President Jörn Verleger, Secretary General Chris Oberlehner and board member Alwin Oberkersch at the IF Forum 2019.

Experts from companies such as Charles Russell Speechlys, Leidar, MARSH, MGO Events, OnePlan, and SKIDATA AG will provide essential insights. The packed conference programme will also feature contributions from representatives of the IOC, as well as the colleagues from IFs, including Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), International Ski Federation (FIS), World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI), World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO), International Floorball Federation (IFF), World Taekwondo (WT), World Archery (WA), World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and World Rugby.